Power Shift
by SheWasaReaderGirl
Summary: Wyatt, Chris, and their cousin Allison are ready to take on the fight against evil, but their siblings and cousins are reluctant. It may take the life of Phoebe’s youngest being at stake to convince them.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, concepts, or plot arcs of Charmed.

The outdoor café was at a lull around three in the afternoon. Twenty-year old Wyatt Halliwell sat across from his aunt Paige at a small table underneath the restaurant's canopy. It was a hot afternoon in May and it was nice to get into the shade for a little bit.

They'd just given their lunch orders to the waitress when Paige eyed her nephew knowingly and decided to get straight to the point. "You're frustrated, aren't you?" She could see it in the wrinkles on his forehead and the way his shoulders slumped.

Wyatt sighed. "I can't be a white lighter."

"Yes, you can. Trust me. I didn't think I could do it either, but now I can't imagine my life without it. You'll get the hang of it." Paige watched him shrug like he didn't really believe her. She asked, "What happened now?"

"My charge still hates me. I tried to talk to him about personal gain last night and he punched me." Wyatt tilted his head to show off the bruise on his jaw line. "Then, today, I caught him trying to break into a liquor store using his powers. He's out of control. Way too much to handle for a newbie."

"You're not a newbie. It's been over a year since you started this, and I think you're really growing into it."

Wyatt shook his head. "That sounds like a typical white lighter response to me."

"Well, I am a white lighter, aren't I?" Paige said, raising her eyebrow. She then sobered. "Listen, I understand how you feel. But part of being a white lighter is getting through to your charges. Maybe he thinks you're trying to control him." She shrugged.

"You're saying I'm controlling?"

"No," she said in a tone that said how ridiculous that was. "What I'm saying is that when someone finds out they're a witch, sometimes they want to take advantage of it. And if you're the one telling him he can't do that, then of course he'll want to rebel against it."

"So what am I supposed to do? Let him do whatever he wants?"

"Of course not. But you have to relate to him. You know what it's like to want to use your powers for everything. Your parents went through hell trying to wrangle you as a kid."

Wyatt had to smile at that, nodding his head in a nostalgic fashion. "Yeah, they did."

"It's not something to be proud of, believe me," Paige mumbled. "You've also got to show him what happens when you use magic in a bad way. Show him how dangerous it is."

"I have! How did you think I got this?" He pointed to the bruise on his face.

"_Show _him. Don't just lecture him about it."

Wyatt nodded. "I guess. But you don't know him like I do. He's way past any help I can give."

Paige bit her lip, an idea brewing in her head. "Maybe you're right. Maybe he needs someone more experienced to get through to him. But I do think you need experience working with a witch that loves their magic a little too much."

"But you'll reassign him?"

Paige laughed at how eager he sounded to unload the out-of-control witch. "I can take care of it. But I have just the witch in mind for you to work with instead."

Wyatt frowned. "Who?"

"My daughter."

"Allison or Jessica?" Wyatt didn't give her a chance to answer. "Neither of them seem like they overuse their magic."

"I don't think personal gain is the issue. But Allison seems more and more eager to get out there and fight demons. She doesn't understand that it's more complicated than that."

"She's only fifteen," Wyatt marveled.

"Fifteen to a fifteen-year old feels old," Paige said. "You know, she's doing well at magic school and she wants a chance to apply what's she learned. I'm just getting scared that she's going to go looking for trouble if someone isn't watching out for her."

"And you think she'll listen to me?"

"You're her cool cousin Wyatt! Of course she will. More than her _mother_. Which is what she's been calling me lately. Not Mom, but _Mother_." Paige shuddered. "It makes me feel even older than I already am."

"You're still the youngest Charmed One," Wyatt said in a positive tone.

"True. And I plan to hold onto that title for the rest of my life," she said with a smile. "So what do you think?"

"To being my cousin's white lighter? It's got to be easier than anyone else. She already likes me."

Paige nodded. "Well, don't get too comfy. She's been pretty moody lately. Don't let her go crazy, but don't talk down to her either."

Wyatt laughed at the semi-contradictory advice. "I'll do my best." Wyatt paused as he heard a familiar voice in his head calling his name. "Uh oh. 911." Wyatt pushed his chair back to get up.

"What is it?" Paige asked.

"Sounds like my brother is in trouble. Thanks for the advice Aunt Paige," he said, giving her a grateful look. She smiled, and he went to duck into an alley so he could orb to the Underworld.

When he materialized, he took a moment to assess the situation. He'd landed in a dark, narrow passageway. He was about to walk ahead when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He jerked around, ready to TK a demon into a wall, but stopped himself when he recognized his brother.

"What's the emergency?" Wyatt demanded. Instead of answering, Chris moved forward to lead the way and Wyatt followed closely. When Wyatt repeated his question, Chris shushed him and crouched down on the edge of a demon's lair.

"What is it?" Wyatt whispered.

"I was tracking this demon," Chris explained in an equally hushed voice. "I followed him here, but I didn't think he'd be so popular. He's got at least five demons with him."

"So you called me for back-up?"

"Yep." Chris slapped a couple potion vials into his brother's open hand. "Cover me."

They crouched down and peered into the lair, watching the demons talk back and forth about their amateurish plans to rule the Underworld. "You know," Wyatt said. "If you're gonna blow off stuff to hunt demons, give me a call next time."

"Shh," Chris said, though he had a smile on his face.

"Seriously. I'd love to play hooky for a day and kick some ass. I never get out anymore."

The attention of the demons was finally drawn to the two brothers, and they took the cue, straightening. Between the two of them, they threw six potion vials and directed them to their targets using their telekinesis. In less than ten seconds, they'd vanquished all six demons.

"You want to go again?" Wyatt asked. "I bet there's a few low level demons skulking around here somewheres."

Chris looked tempted, but he grimaced. "No, I can't. I was supposed to be at magic school over a half hour ago. Dad'll kill me if I'm any later."

"You want to trade with me?" Wyatt grinned.

"Are you kidding? In a heartbeat. I spent too much of my childhood in that place as it is, and now I've graduated and I'm still in school."

"Your choice," Wyatt reminded him.

"I think I was delirious when I made that choice. Or drunk. Something," Chris mumbled.

"Drunk? You don't drink."

"I might start now." Chris shook his head to dismiss the subject. "I really gotta go. I'll see you at home."

"See ya." Wyatt did a mock salute to his brother, the aspiring teacher, and watched him orb away.

When Chris arrived in the great room at magic school, he was prepared for an instant lecture from his father. It took him a moment, but Chris finally spotted Leo down the hallway, talking to one of the teachers. He took a deep breath.

It seemed like he was always disappointing his dad these days, but it wasn't like he meant to. Chris was the type of person that could never get comfortable doing the same thing. When he told Leo that he wanted to be a teacher, it was because he wanted a career in magic. But now, Chris was realizing that what he meant by "career in magic" was really a career in demon hunting. His mother and aunts had always wanted a normal life apart from demons and magic, but Chris wanted the exact opposite. He liked the unpredictability that came with being a full time witch. He loved the action, the power, and most of all, he loved the rewarding feeling it gave him. Every time he vanquished a demon, he felt accomplished. He felt like he'd really made a difference in the world.

Leo was approaching him now, and Chris raised his eyes. He never hung his head around Leo. He refused to ever let his father make him feel vulnerable.

"Hey Dad," he said.

Leo smiled. "Hey Chris. How was your morning?"

Ordinarily, Chris would expect the question to be asked in sarcasm, but he was genuinely asking. Chris frowned. "Okay, I guess. Aren't you mad?"

Leo sighed and sat down at the large desk in the back of the room. "No, I'm not mad."

"Hmm." Chris slid on the edge of the desk. "Disappointed?"

"No." Leo laughed lightly. "I mean, I'm a little sad that this isn't your calling, but that seems to be what we're dealing with here."

"Not my calling?"

"You've been Professor Taylor's teaching assistant for three months now. I think you've been on time maybe five times."

"I'm sorry, Dad. You know how I am with time. Even in high school, I sucked at it."

"It's nothing to be sorry about. I just wish you'd talk to me if you're not happy. I can tell you hate this. What about it don't you like?"

Chris shrugged. "The kids, I guess."

"The kids?"

"Yeah, I mean, they're either kids that don't want to be here at all or kids that want to be here too much. You know, the teacher's pets and the suck-ups."

"Chris,"

"No, see?" Chris interrupted, knowing that Leo was going to disagree with the way he'd worded his assessment. "I'm horrible with kids 'cause half the time, I don't care. I hate tutoring for written exams and when I help with the practical stuff, I just get frustrated 'cause they're not getting it."

"You don't mind helping Mel, or your cousins."

"Well, that's different. I have an invested interest in them doing well 'cause they're my family. I don't care about these random kids."

Leo stared at him sadly.

"I didn't say it wasn't horrible," Chris added. "But that's the way it is."

"I wondered as much," Leo said with a sigh. "So, I came up with a project for you. One that you might enjoy a little bit more."

"What?"

"We have a student that's been missing classes regularly. His parents are telling us that he's not interested in his magic anymore."

Chris shrugged. "Sounds pretty normal to me. I'm telling you, Dad, at least a third of the kids hate it here."

Leo frowned. "We'll work on changing that later. For now, I want you to talk to this boy. Encourage him. Help him understand that being a witch is part of who he is, and he shouldn't run from it."

"That sounds like a white lighter job."

"Not quite. White lighters don't usually work with young children. And you're going as a representative of the school. Not the Elders."

"Same difference. You want me to guide a future witch. That's what white lighters do, and that's not my thing. It's Wyatt's."

"That doesn't mean it can't be yours too."

Chris sighed. His whole life he'd been trying to find an identity of his own. He didn't want to do whatever his brother did. Besides, Wyatt seemed to like working with future witches and white lighters. Chris was really starting to hate it.

"I like being in the fire, Dad. I want to be in the field, not stuck at the office."

"Fighting demons isn't a career, Chris. You don't get paid to do that like you do this."

"We should," Chris mumbled. It was odd to think that the Elders were doling out salaries, but the teachers that put their time in at magic school needed to pay the bills like everyone else, so the Elders made sure they were compensated appropriately, even if a little magical intervention was needed at times.

Leo shook his head in dismissal. "Teaching these children is important for the future. One day, they'll be stepping into our shoes."

"Dad, I'm eighteen. Shouldn't I be an expert before I turn around and teach? I need the work experience first, which I'm trying to get."

"You're an expert at controlling your powers, which is what's needed. I don't think the parents want you teaching them to fight demons."

Chris sighed. "Fine, well I'm not interested in preparing them. I live in the present, not the future. I don't care about the future."

His father smirked, which Chris didn't quite understand, but Leo continued. "I understand. But I'm thinking that this is more you not being ready."

"You think I'm too immature."

"I didn't say that."

"But that's what you meant."

"I think you need some time to figure out who you are."

"I know who I am. I'm a witch; I'm the son of a Charmed One, and I'm damn proud of it. Why do I have to be anything else?"

Leo sighed. Chris took that as a sign that his father had no answer other than 'Because you just do.' But Chris knew that he was an adult now, and his days of outright rebellion needed to come to an end. He'd be adult about it. He'd try it, and then he'd quit.

"I'll talk to the kid. If that's what you want," Chris said.

"I'd appreciate it," Leo said with a nod. "But before you go, Professor Taylor wants you to start grading final exams."

Chris groaned. "All right, I'll do it." He turned and trudged down the hall to Professor Taylor's classroom.

* * *

There was something wrong with her picture. Melinda just knew it. She'd been staring at the canvas for several minutes and she'd made minor adjustments, but still something looked off. Her sophomore art class had just started practicing still life paintings. For her project she'd arranged some of her mother's pots and cooking utensils on the countertop so she could paint them from the kitchen table.

Biting her lip, Melinda placed her brush into the small cup of water nearby and swirled it around to clean off the paint. She heard footsteps behind her and turned just in time to see her mother walk in.

"Mom, can I get your opinion?"

Piper smiled and walked over. "Anytime. What's up?"

"Something needs to be fixed, but I don't know what." Melinda pointed to her painting and frowned. With a hand on her hip, Piper examined the painting.

"I think it looks great."

Melinda sighed. "How do you expect your children to ever improve if you coddle them?"

Wyatt entered the kitchen, having overheard, and said, "Oh, she doesn't coddle anyone. Believe me."

Piper gave her eldest son a playful slap and smiled, focusing back on her daughter. "Well, honey I'm not a painter. I can't tell you what's wrong. Why don't you ask your teacher?"

She rolled her eyes. "Miss Barry? I don't think so. She thinks being an artist is all talent and no skill. It's something you're born with, not something you learn. She only works with the kids that are already brilliant."

"Doesn't sound like much of a teacher," Wyatt said, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge.

"She's not. But she's the only art teacher our school has," Melinda said with a deep sigh. "I might as well give up. I'm clearly not gifted enough for her or her class."

"Now don't say that." Piper sat down in the chair beside her and put a comforting hand on her arm. "Your dad and I didn't raise you to give up. Halliwells are tough. We don't let people tell us we can't do things."

"She's right, Mel," Wyatt put in. "If there are some kids in your class that she thinks are brilliant, why don't you ask for their help?"

"What, like a tutor?" Melinda had a look of distaste in her expression. "I don't think so."

"Why not?" Wyatt frowned.

"Because tutors talk down to you," she said. "I don't need to be patronized. I'll figure it out myself."

Wyatt smirked, glancing between his mother and sister. They didn't just look alike; they sometimes acted alike too. Halliwells were also stubborn, and Wyatt's two younger siblings certainly didn't lack any of that gene.

The subject seemed dismissed as Melinda went back to working on her painting and Piper started to move through the kitchen to make a shopping list. Wyatt watched the concentrated look on his baby sister's face and with a sudden realization, he no longer saw the face of a baby in her. She was fifteen now, growing into a young woman. She hadn't seemed interested in boys yet, but Wyatt knew it was only a matter of time.

With how focused, and almost stressed, she seemed over her painting, Wyatt wondered if public school really had been the best thing for her. All the Hallliwell children, including Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Paige's kids had attended Magic School up until the age of ten so that they could learn to control their powers and understand when it is and isn't appropriate to use magic. Once they reached the junior high level, their parents gave them a choice. Wyatt and Chris had stayed at Magic School, along with some of their cousins, but Melinda had wanted to give the normal school a try. Wyatt was just concerned that she sometimes felt a bit ordinary; at Magic School, they were made to know every day how special they all were. But maybe that was why she was so interested in painting. She wanted a way to stand out, not just from the kids at school, but from all of her cousins.

Of course, finding a life outside of magic seemed to be the Halliwell women way. Wyatt and Chris, on the other hand, wanted to be up in it twenty-four seven.

"What are you doing here, Wyatt?" his mother asked, breaking him from his daze. "I thought you had a shift at the restaurant."

Wyatt sighed. "I had to get Mike to cover for me. White lighter problem."

"I don't understand why you have that job anyway," Melinda said. "Do you want to be a professional waiter? Oh, you know what? I think they have competitions for people like that."

"Oh shut up, Mel," Wyatt said. "I happen to do it because it pays well. And I kind of would like to have some money to buy stuff. And it's the perfect job because I have a boss that understands our type of family emergencies," he explained, giving his mom a smile, which she returned.

"What was the white lighter problem?" Piper asked.

"It doesn't matter. It's over, and I don't have to be this hooligan's white lighter ever again."

Piper raised her eyebrows. "I see. You pawned him off on someone else?"

"Pretty much, and my new charge is gonna be a breeze. I can tell already." As if on perfect timing, the sound of orbs tricking in came to their ears, and a moment later, the bright blonde hair gave their cousin Allison away. Her twin Jessica had recently dyed her hair a dark brown, a small attempt at being different from her sister.

"I'm here!" she said cheerfully, extending her arms in a model-like pose.

"Yes, we can see that," Melinda said with a chuckle. "No need for the dramatic entrance."

"I'm just excited," she said with a giddy smile, barely containing her squeal. Her eyes quickly found Wyatt. "So what do we do first? Do you like take me into the Underworld to feel things out?" Her question was accompanied with fluid hand motions.

"What? No," Wyatt said. "What made you think that?"

"Well, isn't that what you're training me for?" Allison asked.

"What's going on?" Piper asked.

"Aunt Paige wants me to be her white lighter," Wyatt explained, and then turned his attention back on his cousin. "Not your trainer, but your white lighter. You're not setting foot in the Underworld."

Allison looked crestfallen as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Then I don't understand the point. I thought when a witch got a white lighter, it meant she was ready to embrace her destiny."

Wyatt frowned. "You really should know better, considering your mom is a white lighter."

"If I'm gonna fight demons, I need to be ready, don't I?"

"You have at least five years to get yourself ready for this. You're still too young."

"Five years? In five years, I'll be twenty. You and Chris started when you were my age."

"Not with anyone's permission," Piper put in.

"So? The point is, they didn't die. They could handle it, and I can too. If we're not hunting demons, then what are we doing?"

Wyatt frowned. "Your mom didn't talk to you about the details? Why we were doing this?"

"No." She had a hard glare on her face. "But I think I'm starting to get the picture. You're not my white lighter. You're my babysitter."

"Allison," Wyatt started.

"No, I see how it is. You used to be cool, Wyatt, but now you're just a grown-up. All responsible and boring. You're just like your dad."

Melinda started laughing, which Wyatt didn't appreciate. Even Piper cracked a smile. Wyatt cleared his throat. "I'm not saying you'll never get to fight demons or go down to the Underworld; all I'm saying is not yet."

"So when?" Allison asked.

"That depends."

"On…"

"On the progress you make, and on your parents. When they say you're ready, then we'll talk about it."

Allison's opinion was made clear by her abruptly orbing out. The new witch/white lighter relationship wasn't what she had expected obviously. Wyatt sighed. "Well, that went well."

"Sounds like your new charge is gonna be a breeze," Melinda said, hardly stifling her laughter.

"When did she turn into such a diva?" Wyatt asked his mother. "She used to be a sweet little girl!"

"People grow up," Piper said. "Including you. Sweetie, I'm impressed. You've matured so much in the last year."

"And apparently became my father," Wyatt said, his horror easy to detect. "How did I go from nineteen to ninety so fast? I _did _used to be cool."

"You're still cool," Melinda said. "It's just a different kind of cool."

Piper approached the table and gestured to Melinda's paint supplies. "You should start picking up here, hon. I'm gonna start dinner soon."

"I thought you were going to the store," Melinda said.

"I was, but I think we've got enough to make do tonight. I'll go in the morning." Piper patted Melinda's shoulders and then went back to patrolling the kitchen to pull out supplies to start the meal, as Melinda started gathering her things.

Wyatt sighed. He couldn't believe he'd become an adult so fast. In high school, he and Chris had constantly gone on reckless missions to wipe every demon on the map. They still did to a certain extent, but the risk wasn't there anymore. He didn't get an adrenaline rush from hunting demons anymore.

He felt strongly now that he needed one last wild experience before he would accept the fact that he was an adult. The question was, what could he possibly do to give him that same rush?


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, concepts, or plot arcs of Charmed.

Chris rang the doorbell at the Thompson house and waited idly on the front porch with his hands in his pockets. His hope was to go in, give the kid a pep talk, and be on his way. He'd get home just in time for dinner.

A woman with short, curly blonde hair answered the door with a frown. "Can I help you?"

"Hi, I'm Chris," he extended his hand and she shook it tentatively. He quickly explained. "I'm from the magic school. I'm here about Dylan."

"Oh, good," her frown changed to a sad smile, "please come in."

She led the way to the sitting room, introducing herself as Sandra. She called for her husband, who came in a moment later. She said to Chris, "This is my husband Ben." She turned to Ben and quickly explained why Chris was there.

"Thank you," Ben said as he sat down on the couch. Sandra sat beside him and Chris took an armchair across from them. "We're at a loss for what to do with him. Are you one of his teachers?"

"Sort of. I'm a teaching assistant." He paused and took a breath. "Why don't you tell me about Dylan. What you think the problem is, I mean."

Sandra and Ben exchanged a look, and it was Ben that spoke. "We really don't know. See, Dylan decided that he wanted to go to college in business. He's young, but he seems sure that that's what he wants to do. The plan was to pull him from magic school this year and send him to public school. We figured it'd be easier to get accepted if we didn't have to make excuses for magic school."

"That's true," Chris nodded. "My sister wants to go to college and she's in public school. So what happened? Is he just too anxious to get out that he's quit coming to magic school?"

"No," Sandra said hesitantly. "He actually doesn't seem interested in school at all."

"Oh." Chris wasn't expecting that.

"He got very upset when we started talking about transferring him next year," Ben said. "We didn't understand because it was part of the plan. He knew it was coming, and he seemed excited."

"I think he's just afraid of the change," Sandra said gently. "Ben disagrees, but he does well at magic school and he has friends there."

"What do you think it is?" Chris asked Ben.

Ben sighed. "I think there's something more going on. It's not just school. He's been acting up around the house, talking back to us. He goes out without asking permission and comes in late. Worries us half to death when he does that."

Chris nodded. "When did this start?"

The two parents considered this a moment before Sandra said, "Few weeks, I guess. I think it started around the time we brought up the school transfer."

"Is he here? Can I talk to him?"

"No. He's…" Sandra hesitated. "Out."

"He doesn't tell us where he goes. Probably the same place he's been going since he started skipping school. We've never had problems getting him to go; we just assumed that's where he was. We didn't know until yesterday."

Chris bit his lip and then raised an eyebrow. "Do you have something of his I can borrow?"

* * *

After cleaning up her paint supplies, Melinda had gone up to her room to work on the rest of her homework while her mother made dinner. She was in the middle of her algebra when she heard someone orb in behind her. She glanced up into the mirror above her desk, not surprised to see Allison standing there.

"Homework?" Allison leaned onto her desk to look closer at the math problems. "Ugh, that looks gross. I don't know what you guys see in that public school stuff. Sounds boring."

"Are you here to see my brother again?" Melinda asked, trying to get the conversation off of her.

"If I was here to see Wyatt, I would have orbed into his room. I wanted to talk to you instead."

"If you think I can talk him into taking you to fight demons, you're wrong."

"No, talking to Wyatt seems pointless. I'm thinking instead of telling him, I should show him."

"Meaning…" Melinda asked, slightly bored.

"I can't tell you unless you promise to keep it just between us. You can't tell anyone, not even your brothers."

Melinda frowned, considering her options. Her cousin was clearly up to no good, and it was probably better that someone responsible knew what she was planning. The two of them were the same age, but Melinda swore that sometimes Allison acted so childish. She sighed. "I promise."

"I want to kill a demon."

"Okay. How did you plan on finding one? 'Cause Wyatt said you couldn't go in the Underworld, and as your white lighter, he can sense you now. He'll know where you are."

Allison shrugged. "I'll scry for evil. Mom's done it a million times."

"You'll get yourself killed. Or hurt. And if you think you'll have any freedom after that-"

"I've got it covered." Allison smiled. "If I get hurt, my brother can heal me. And Henry wouldn't tell on me. Plus, I plan on having someone there for back up."

Melinda wasn't following. "Who?"

"You. Duh."

"No."

"C'mon, Mel."

"No. Why don't you ask Madeline? She's actually been going to magic school for the last few years. She's probably more prepared," Melinda suggested, referring to Phoebe's second daughter.

"Because Maddy's not interested in fighting demons. She's too caught up in all that empathy crap."

"Well, I'm not interested either."

"But you actually have an active power. If things get messy, you can just freeze everything and we can get out of there."

"It's a stupid idea. You'll get hurt, and I'll get in trouble."

Allison shrugged, as if it didn't faze her. "Okay, but just because you don't go doesn't mean I'm gonna give up. It just means I'll be all on my own, without anyone there to help me."

Melinda rolled her eyes. Now she was trying to guilt her into it. "I'm not going, and neither are you. Wyatt will find out somehow."

"Not if you don't tell him. Which you promised you wouldn't."

"Why can't you just be patient? You're gonna fight a demon at some point in your life. That's what being a Halliwell is about."

"But I'm ready now. And I don't think it's right that Chris fought his first demon with Wyatt at age fifteen, and I'm not allowed. It's a double standard."

"Wyatt and Chris got punished for that. They were grounded for weeks in case you forgot."

"But that didn't stop them. They kept bending the rules and doing it anyway. And your parents barely cared."

"They cared. You weren't here to hear all the yelling. I locked myself in my room at least once a week to get away from the screaming. Why do you think I'm so uninterested in doing it? My parents have been through enough."

"Please Mel. You have no idea what living in this family is like for me. I have no one. You and my sister are like best friends, Maddy and Prue don't care about demons, and Whitney's still just a kid. Wyatt and Chris had each other. I have no one."

"You should consider that a good thing. Maybe if either Wyatt or Chris had objected to the demon hunting, they wouldn't have put themselves in danger so much."

Allison looked upset. It was a rare sight to see, but Melinda took it as a sign that she was actually getting through. Until that is, Allison said, "I'm going after dinner tonight. I'll be back around seven to see if you're coming with."

"Allison," she started.

"I trust you won't tell on me 'cause you're not a fink. I just hope you decide to not let me down." Allison orbed out, and Melinda sighed heavily. She was right; in all the years that Wyatt and Chris had gone off on their wild demon adventures, Melinda had always covered for them despite her fears. But Wyatt and Chris always went together, and Wyatt was a couple years older and had his shield. She never doubted that they'd be smart and safe. Allison could end up dead if she did this.

It was just after five o'clock. She'd have a couple hours to think about how she'd handled this.

* * *

Wyatt heard footsteps in the attic from his bedroom so he went upstairs to see what was going on. When he came in, Chris was standing over a map with a crystal swinging in his hand. Wyatt frowned and walked over.

"Who you scrying for?"

"A kid," Chris answered simply. He dropped the crystal in frustration. "This is getting me nowhere."

"What kid?"

Chris sighed. "Dad asked me to talk to this kid that's been skipping classes at magic school. He wasn't there so I talked to his parents. Apparently, kid hasn't been acting like himself. Sounds like a complete one-eighty."

"Sounds like a demon," Wyatt said, not believing it yet, but knowing that that was where his brother was going.

"Possibly. I'm not sure yet, but I'm not ruling it out. The way his parents talked about him, he was a good kid. Now he's skipping school, staying out late, and has no interest in something he used to be excited about."

Wyatt shrugged. "Could just be typical teenager stuff. How old is he?"

"Twelve. And I've considered that, but it's my job to be thorough, right? So I'm investigating further."

"You sure you're not just trying to turn this boring problem into something interesting?"

"No," Chris said doubtfully. "I like to have my demon radar up just in case. Once I find this kid and talk to him, I'll have a better idea of what's going on."

Wyatt nodded. "I see. You could just wait for him to get home."

"Not if he's in trouble. I'm having issues scrying for him, which could mean one of two things. Either something's possessing him or something's got him and a shape shifter demon is walking around in his skin." Chris caught the look on Wyatt's face. "I'm speculating. I'm not saying it's one hundred percent certain."

"So what do you want to do?"

Chris shrugged. "If I can't find him, what can I do?"

"Well, like I said, you could wait for him to get home. We could stake out the house tonight and pull him aside when we see him coming. You know what he looks like?"

"Little bit. I kind of remember seeing him at school, and there were some pictures in their house."

"The only problem might be being discreet. If he is just a troubled kid, it might freak him out to have two strangers jump out at him from the bushes."

"So maybe we don't approach him? Maybe we just follow him when he leaves again. See where he goes."

Wyatt nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

"Dad's not gonna like this. He'll say we shouldn't be treating a student like this."

"Well, Dad doesn't have to know."

Chris raised an eyebrow. "Really? I would have thought you'd want his opinion. Make sure we're doing the right thing."

"Have I really gone that straight? We're adults. We suspect something and we're checking it out. We can take care of ourselves."

"He's gonna ask me at dinner how it went," Chris sighed. "I'll have to lie."

"You have a problem with that?"

Chris shrugged. "No." He and Wyatt laughed.

"All right, cool. We'll park down the street to watch the house. He might not leave again until morning, but if something does happen, we'll be there. We can leave after dinner."

"Where are you going?"

Wyatt and Chris turned to see Melinda coming into the attic. She noticed their annoyed looks and she quickly added, "I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I just overheard you when I came in. Where are you going?"

Chris shook his head. "It's nothing. Just following a lead on something."

Melinda nodded and then looked at Wyatt. "And you're going too?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Don't you think you should keep an eye on Allison? Aunt Paige did ask you to."

"Why, what's up with Allison?" Chris asked.

Wyatt sighed. "She's my new charge. Aunt Paige thinks she's too anxious to fight demons and wants someone to watch her."

"Which you should be doing," Melinda said. "Especially after how angry she was when she left."

"Her parents aren't gonna let her out of their sight. And if she's in trouble, she'll call for me."

"But you're supposed to keep her from getting _into _trouble. That's your job." Melinda said. She asked Chris, "Do you really need his help?"

"No," Chris said, with a frown, "Look if you've got something else you need to do…"

"She threw a tantrum the last time I talked to her. She needs some time to cool down and accept that she's too young to go after demons. Aunt Paige'll talk to her."

"Then maybe you should talk to Aunt Paige and let her know that it didn't go well. So she knows to watch Allison."

"Yeah, I will. Just chill, Mel."

"Sorry, it's just…I'd hate to see you blow her off when Aunt Paige trusted you to be there for her." Melinda quickly added to end the conversation, "Mom sent me to tell you dinner's ready."

"All right," Chris said. "Hey, don't mention that we have something going on tonight, okay?"

Melinda sighed. "Of course." She inwardly groaned before she followed her brothers downstairs. She prided herself on being mature and responsible, and she knew the right thing to do was to tell her parents or her aunt and uncle what Allison was planning to do. But in the end, would that really help?

She thought back to what Allison had said about having no one in this family she could really connect with. If Melinda told on her, Allison would likely get punished and she'd be so angry with Melinda that she'd never come to her with anything again. Plus, Allison would feel even more restricted and that would only make her want to rebel. Aunt Paige and Uncle Henry had to understand that and not punish her too harshly.

The three Halliwell children walked into the kitchen of the manor and sat down at the table where Piper was placing the dishes she'd prepared. Leo was already there when they came in.

When they began eating, a few minutes of silence passed before Piper and Leo exchanged a look, wondering why their normally chatty children were so quiet. Leo cleared his throat. "So…good day?"

There were affirmative mumbles and nods, and his two sons offered him smiles. Leo smiled back and decided to be more direct. "Did you talk to Dylan Thompson?" he asked Chris.

Chris swallowed a mouthful of potatoes. "He wasn't home, but I talked to his parents."

"And?"

"And he was gonna transfer to public school anyway. There's only a week left before summer vacation. I think they're hoping his attitude will change once school starts again in the fall."

Leo nodded. "Thanks for doing that."

Chris shrugged. "You asked me to."

The conversation lapsed into the subject of Wyatt being Allison's new white lighter, which Melinda had now heard three times, and with the topic being discussed, it was becoming harder and harder not to say something. Loyalty had always been important to her. She'd always been loyal to her brothers. Why should her cousin be any different?

"You feel all right?" Piper asked with a hand on her forearm. The men were too wrapped up their discussion to notice, and Melinda was thankful for that. She hadn't been aware that her thoughts had distracted her from eating. She'd mostly just been moving her fork around.

Melinda nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay."

"Thinking about your art class?"

"Yeah," she lied. "I thought about talking to my teacher tomorrow."

"That's good. The semester may be almost be over, but if you end up having her again next year…"

"I will. She's the only teacher, remember?"

"You know, honey, you could take some classes at the art center over the summer if you want. Maybe get a better teacher."

Melinda nodded again. "I'll think about it. Thanks Mom."

Piper smiled warmly and turned back to her food. They finished eating several minutes later, and Wyatt and Chris announced that they were heading out. After they'd gone, Melinda realized that Wyatt had never called Aunt Paige. She helped her mother with the dishes, wondering what she should do.

She could call Aunt Paige herself, but that'd be the equivalent of tattling, which she didn't want to do. Wyatt and Chris didn't carry cell phones, despite their mother's protests, so there was no reaching them now.

After the dishes were done, Melinda went back up to her room. It was after seven. She was hoping Allison had changed her mind, but her cousin was there when she opened her door.

"So?" Allison asked. "You coming?"

Melinda sighed and bit her lip. "Yeah. I guess so."

Allison grinned and grabbed her arm. "Awesome." Then, they orbed out.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, concepts, or plot arcs of Charmed.

Wyatt and Chris had been sitting in Wyatt's car down the street from Dylan Thompson's house for nearly twenty minutes before Chris voiced his suspicion that Dylan was home afterall.

"How do you know?"

Chris pointed to a window on the top floor. "I can see a shadow through the window of someone moving around. Both his parents are downstairs." The curtains were open on the first floor so they could see Ben and Sandra Thompson sitting in the living area, presumably watching television.

"I feel like a stalker," Chris mumbled.

"It was your idea," Wyatt pointed out.

"I know. I didn't say we shouldn't do it; I'm just saying I feel like a stalker."

They were quiet for a moment before Wyatt cursed. Chris asked him what was wrong. "I forgot to call Aunt Paige," Wyatt said. He sighed and then shrugged. "Ah well, I'm sure Allison told her how pissed she was when she got home. That girl doesn't hold back what she thinks. Aunt Paige will know to watch her."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Chris paused. "Maybe this could be my job. I could be like a bodyguard for magic school. Keep all the demons out."

"Except demons don't get into magic school. It's part of the enchantments on it."

"Not true. Demons took over magic school when we were little, remember? They probably could have used a bodyguard specifically hired to get rid of those demons."

Wyatt nodded, humoring his brother. "You sound more like an exterminator than a bodyguard." He paused. "Besides, that wouldn't happen again. They know how to prevent it this time around."

Chris shrugged. "Maybe."

"You really don't want to be a teacher, do you?"

"I thought I did. And I stuck it out 'cause I figured I needed to get used to it. You hated being a white lighter at first, and now you like it okay."

"I don't know. Being a white lighter is like ten percent rewarding and ninety percent frustrating. But I like sharing our world with other people. Especially if they embrace it the way we have."

"I just hate thinking about this career stuff. I know that if I don't teach or become a white lighter, Mom and Dad will expect me to pick a mortal career, which I don't want to do. I think demon hunting is work enough."

"If you made a career out of demon hunting, you'd likely be doing it several hours a day. Do you really think Mom and Dad want you to be in danger that much? They'd rather you do something safe and occasionally take on a demon or two."

"But I'm careful."

"They're our parents. It's their job to worry," Wyatt said. "Besides, just because we're witches, we're not excused from the same crap normal people have to deal with. You graduated high school and now you need to figure out what to do with your life."

When Chris didn't say anything, Wyatt looked over and noticed Chris was staring intently at the Thompson house with squinted eyes. "What?" Wyatt asked.

"Look," Chris said. "He's leaving."

The window where they'd see Dylan's shadow moving around through the curtain had opened, and now a small boy was climbing out of it. He was wearing dark clothes and his short dark hair made him blend in with the night sky behind him. But they could see him stretching to grab onto the tree branch nearby. Wyatt and Chris glanced at each other. Climbing out the window had never been an issue for them – orbing made it easy to sneak out.

"He can't be a demon," Chris said. "He wouldn't need to walk; he could just shimmer."

Wyatt nodded. "I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But if he's not a demon, then why couldn't you scry for the kid?"

Chris shrugged. "No idea. C'mon, let's follow him."

Slowly, and quietly, they both climbed out of the car and started down the street that Dylan had taken. They kept themselves as distant as they could from the boy and hid behind anything they could when they thought he might be suspicious.

They'd been walking through the neighborhood for several minutes before Dylan's destination became painfully clear. He stopped on the sidewalk outside a house near the end of the street and crossed the yard. He was heading for the house where their Aunt Phoebe lived with her husband Coop and their three daughters.

* * *

Allison and Melinda walked along the sidewalk downtown in a slightly seedy area. It was completely dark now, and the streetlights where the only things helping them see. Allison stopped in front of an old flower shop.

"Here?" Melinda asked. "The demon is a florist?"

Allison rolled her eyes. "You really think this place is still open? The windows are cracked and dusty, and it's not that late. The owner would still be there. I think it's closed down and the demon is taking shelter."

"What do you think he's planning to do?"

"How should I know? All I did was scry. It's not like I know who the demon is."

"Allison, this is risky. Let's just go back."

"No," she said firmly. "I don't chicken out. I came here to kill this demon, and I plan on doing it. She reached into the pockets of her light jacket and pulled out a couple vanquishing potions. She handed one to Melinda and kept one for herself.

"Where did you make this?"

"Garage. It's not like my parents were home, and Jess and Henry are too focused on themselves to care what I'm doing."

Melinda shot her a look. "So everyone is self absorbed except for you. Nice Allison."

"Oh, don't get dramatic. Are you ready?"

"No, I'm not ready. I don't want to do this."

"Then don't," Allison said with an attitude, like she was really hurt. "If you want to leave then leave."

"I can't leave you here by yourself."

"Then I guess you're staying. Let's go." Allison hooded her eyes with her hands and peered inside. It was dark, but she couldn't see any shadows or outlines that would indicate someone was inside. "Okay, c'mon."

Allison grabbed Melinda's hand and led her around the corner into the alley where they wouldn't be seen. Then, they orbed into the dark store. Melinda felt her heart pounding. She'd never been in the presence of a demon without her parents around, and she was terrified. She felt on the verge of hyperventilating.

Cautiously, Allison backed them up into a wall, her logic being that no one would be able to sneak up on them. There was a door on the other side of the store, likely leading to a back room, and it started to creep open. A man slowly came out. He was wearing dark clothes and had an almost curious look on his face.

"Hello," he said, though it didn't sound very welcoming to Melinda. "You girls get lost on your way home?"

"I don't know," Allison replied. "Did you? 'Cause if I'm not mistaken, demons belong in the Underworld. Or better yet, the Wasteland." She held up her potion vial threateningly, and smirked. Melinda stopped breathing for a moment. Now he knew they weren't just innocent girls.

"Witches," he said, as if proving Melinda's point. He then put on a smirk of his own. "Baby witches."

"Correction," Allison said. "Charmed witches. And I'd think twice about hurting us. If you kill us, I guarantee you our parents will be back for you."

The demon's scowl disappeared, and a mixture of intrigue and concern replaced it. Before he could say anything more, another man came out of the room as well, and Melinda's panic instantly escalated. Not just one demon but two.

"What are you doing out here?" the second demon asked his cohort.

The first one pointed to the girls. "They claim to be children of the Charmed Ones."

"What do you mean _claim_?" Allison said. "You think we're lying?"

They ignored her. "What do you want to do with them?" the second one said.

"I don't know," the first one replied. "This could be a trap."

"Would the Charmed Ones use their children as bait?"

"Oh my God," Allison said. "Less chatting, more dying." She threw her vanquishing potion at the first demon, who immediately enveloped it in a ball of fire. Allison seemed stunned for a second. When the second demon sent an energy ball in their direction, Melinda had to grab her cousin by the arm and pull her down to duck. They both screamed.

"Orb, orb," Melinda insisted. She was relieved when Allison complied, orbing them into her and Jessica's bedroom. Allison immediately fell on to the bed, grabbing her shoulder tightly. When Melinda looked, she saw blood.

"Oh my God," Melinda said. The energy ball must have grazed her when they ducked. "You're hurt."

"I'm okay," Allison said, grimacing as she spoke. "Keep it down. I don't want my parents coming in."

"I need to find Wyatt."

"No," she snapped. "Get my brother."

Melinda hesitated, but she saw how much pain her cousin was in and nodded. She crept out into the hallway, nervous about her Aunt Paige or Uncle Henry seeing her. They'd wonder why she was there and how she got in, since she was one of the few Halliwell children that couldn't orb or shimmer. She and Phoebe's youngest, Whitney, were the only ones.

Down the hall, Melinda could hear the soft sound of a television. It was coming from Paige and Henry's bedroom, but when she heard a quiet, "Oh my God,' she recognized Jessica's voice and went closer. She waited to see if she could hear anyone else speak. When she didn't, she took a breath and peeked her head in and saw only her cousin there.

Jessica looked up when she noticed someone there and looked excited. "Oh, Melinda. You've got to watch this movie with me. There's this woman, Mrs. Danvers. She's awful!"

Melinda noticed the old black and white film on the screen, but ignored it with a sigh. "Not right now Jess. Where's Henry?"

"In the living room. He and my dad are watching some game."

Melinda leaned in closer to keep her voice soft. "Allison's hurt; she needs someone to heal her, but she doesn't want your parents to know."

Jessica looked concerned, the movie immediately forgotten. "Is she okay? Where is she?"

"In your room. Look, just get Henry and come in. Your mom and dad can't see me or else I'll have to explain what I'm doing here."

"Okay." Jessica quickly climbed off the bed and ran out into the hall. When Melinda was sure it was clear, she scurried back to the girls' bedroom and slipped inside. Allison was on the bed, rocking back and forth and holding her arm.

"You all right?"

Allison nodded, but didn't say anything. The injury looked pretty painful, and Melinda was sure that Allison had never experienced a wound like this before. Their mothers were probably used to it, but they certainly weren't.

A few seconds later, Jessica and Henry Jr. came into the room. The two siblings immediately went to their sister. "What happened?" Henry asked. Melinda still hadn't gotten used to how deep his voice had become recently. At the age of fourteen, he was looking and sounding more and more like his father. He'd just shaved his head too, making him a literal mini version of Henry Sr.

"Why don't you tell them?" Melinda asked Allison, who cringed as her brother healed the wound.

"What's taking so long?" Jessica demanded.

"Give me a break," Henry said. "I don't do this that often."

When the blood had completely disappeared, Allison rubbed at her shoulder as Henry backed up. He repeated his question. Melinda stared at Allison long and hard until she admitted what they'd done.

"It was a demon," Allison said. "We…kind of went after a demon tonight."

Both Jessica and Henry had identical looks of horror on their faces. "Why?" Jessica asked.

"Because she wanted to prove that she could," Melinda said with a touch of spite.

"Oh, you have no problem putting your two cents in now," Allison said, equally spiteful. "I guess you only really went to bail me out."

"Yeah, and you knew that was why I was going. I told you a million times that I didn't want to. But I didn't want you to get killed."

"Well, it's not like you really protected me, did you? You could have frozen those demons at any moment, and you didn't."

"I was scared."

"Look guys," Jessica intervened. "If we really don't want anyone to know, we should just forget it. You need to go home," she said to Melinda.

"I don't know if I want to keep it a secret," Melinda said.

"You promised me."

"That was before a demon sent an energy ball at our heads. At the very least, you have to let me tell Wyatt. He's your white lighter now."

"He'll tell my parents."

"Let me talk to him. I'll convince him not to."

Allison shook her head. "No."

"All right, well I don't need your permission anyway. I thought I could cover for you and keep you from being stupid, but it's too much for me." She turned to Jessica. "Can you orb me home?"

Allison spat, "Go to hell, Melinda."

Melinda merely rolled her eyes and reached for Jessica's hand. The two of them orbed back to the manor into Melinda's room. Immediately, Melinda let out an exasperated sigh. "I thought I was doing the right thing."

"What happened exactly?" Jessica asked.

"She came to me, saying that she wanted to go after a demon to prove to everyone that she could handle it. I didn't want to tell on her, and I didn't want her to get killed, so I went with her."

"You should have told on her."

Melinda shrugged. "But you want to cover for her now?"

"Well, what's done is done. Me and Henry know and if we think she's up to something again, we can talk to our parents. You'll get in trouble if we spill now, and you tried to do a good thing. You don't deserve to get punished."

"I won't be doing it again, that's for sure." Melinda sighed. "I just don't get it. Why does she have to be so…"

"Impatient?"

"Yes."

"She's just like us, Mel. We all want to grow up, but for her, growing up means…. becoming a full-fledged witch. Living her life the way that Wyatt and Chris do. The way our moms did."

"Props to you for putting up with it."

"Most of the time, it's not my problem. Usually, it's Mom's. Dad doesn't feel like he has the right to tell her she can't use her powers, and me and Henry stay out of it."

"She said she wanted someone to connect with. When you think about it, she really doesn't have anyone."

"She has friends at school, but I think those girls are more interested in conjuring hair extensions for themselves than fighting demons." Jessica paused. "I better get back. You gonna tell Wyatt?"

"I don't know yet. He and Chris are out so I probably won't see him until tomorrow anyway. I'll sleep on it."

"Thanks for going with her." Jessica smiled and left. Melinda let out a deep sigh. She had a difficult decision to make now.

* * *

When it became clear that Dylan was going into Phoebe and Coop's home, Wyatt immediately moved forward to follow, but Chris grabbed his arm. "No, not yet."

Wyatt complied and crouched back down behind Phoebe's car that was parked in the driveway. Originally, it seemed like Dylan was going to use the front door, which was innocent enough, but when the boy started walking around to the back of the house, Chris and Wyatt stood in unison and started to creep to the side where Dylan had gone. They stopped at the corner and peered around. Dylan was standing outside a window, tapping on the glass.

"Whose window is that?" Chris whispered.

"I think it's Whitney's," Wyatt replied. They watched Dylan push his leg over the windowsill and climb into the room. "What do we do?"

Chris answered by sidling along the edge of the house in a crouched position, walking beneath the windows. Wyatt followed and they stopped beneath the now open window that Dylan had just climbed through.

"What are you doing here?" Whitney's soft, gentle voice asked Dylan.

"I needed to see you," he replied.

"Keep your voice down," she said. "If my dad catches you in here, he won't understand."

"This feels wrong," Wyatt whispered to his brother.

Chris shook his head. "We need to make sure he doesn't try anything."

Wyatt nodded. "As a demon or…"

"Either one," Chris said simply. He then shushed Wyatt so they could hear what Whitney and Dylan were saying.

* * *

Whitney was surprised to see Dylan at her window. He'd walked home with her a few times, but he'd never actually been inside her house. She told him to sit, and he grabbed the chair from her desk and moved it closer to her bed, where she was sitting with a pillow in her lap.

"You haven't been at school all week," she said.

"I've been sick," he replied. She didn't believe it for a second. He'd been missing a lot of school lately, and she had a feeling that he wasn't just sick. "How've you been?" he asked.

Whitney shrugged. "All right, I guess. Things have been out of control lately with my powers. My parents are getting freaked."

"What do you mean out of control?"

"It's mostly my premonitions. I've started having bad dreams sometimes, and I'm seeing stuff that's really scaring me." She saw a concerned look cross his face, and she added, "It's worse though because I can't do anything about what I see. We figured out that most of them have already happened."

"You're not having premonitions then," he said. "You're clairvoyant. You can see everything."

"My mom's powers work that way too. Do you ever see stuff from the past?"

Dylan shook his head. "My premonitions are always of the future."

There was a short bout of silence until Whitney said, "My dad wants to bind my powers."

"What?" Dylan sounded completely outraged at hearing this. He almost stood up out of his chair, but managed to calm down and said in a much calmer voice, "You can't let them do that."

"My mom won't let it happen," she said, slightly confused by his outburst. "She says I just need to work through it, but my dad says that since I'm only eleven, I shouldn't have to deal with this. He wants to bind them until I'm older. Especially now that…" she paused, "I just found out that I have an active power."

"An active power?" He seemed stunned at first and then he smiled. "That's really awesome. What is it?"

"Telekinesis. It's kind of cool, but kind of random."

"Why is that random?"

"My sisters only have one witch power. Same with my Aunt Paige and her kids. I don't understand why I'm so different."

Dylan got up and sat down beside her on the bed. He put an arm around her shoulders and she found herself not objecting. "You're special, Whitney," he said softly. "More special than anyone else."

Whitney smiled and put her head down on his shoulder. The second her forehead made contact with the side of his neck, she had a premonition. When it was finished, she slowly pushed herself off of him, looking at him fearfully, unable to catch her breath.

"Whitney? What is it?" he asked. At the sound of his voice, she pushed herself even further away, climbing off the bed. "What's wrong?"

"You're…you're a demon."


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, concepts, or plot arcs of Charmed.

The second Wyatt and Chris heard the words, "You're a demon" from inside the house, they immediately orbed into Whitney's bedroom. She seemed startled, but relieved at seeing her older cousins at just the right time. Chris pulled her behind him while Wyatt pinned Dylan against the wall using his telekinesis.

"Wh…" Dylan was breathless for a moment. "What are you doing? Whitney, I'm not a demon. Tell them before they kill me."

"I know what I saw," she said, her heart breaking. She was near tears.

"What? What did you see?" Dylan demanded. "I haven't done anything. Let me go!"

"What did you see?" Chris repeated the question, looking down at her.

"He was in the Underworld. I saw him get angry and kill another demon."

"Exactly!" Dylan said. "I killed a _demon_, which would make me good."

"He called you by a different name, and you killed him with an energy ball."

"That doesn't make me a demon!" Dylan yelled.

Wyatt kept him pinned and glanced over his shoulder at his brother. "If he was a demon, he would have shimmered out by now. Or at least tried to defend himself."

"I don't know, groveling is a form of defense," Chris said. "A pathetic one, but…"

Wyatt sighed and lowered his hand, dropping Dylan to the floor. When he was free, Whitney cowered even further behind Chris, watching with wide eyes as the boy she used to call her friend slowly got to his feet.

"Thank you," he said, though his tone showed absolutely no gratitude. The annoyed look was immediately wiped off his face when Wyatt landed a hard punch across his cheek. He dropped back the floor while Whitney put a hand over her dropped jaw in shock. Dylan lay unmoving on the floor.

Chris bent down to match her height. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, speechless.

Wyatt was gathering Dylan into his arms to carry him out of the bedroom. When Chris went to open the door for him, someone else opened it from the other side. They were met with the confused eyes of the Uncle Coop.

"What is going on? Who is this?" Coop gestured to the boy in Wyatt's arms.

"Possible demon," Wyatt said.

"Tried to hurt Whitney," Chris added.

Coop moved out of the way to let Wyatt and Chris through and immediately took his daughter into his arms, hugging her briefly before holding her out to inspect you. "You all right sweetheart?"

Whitney nodded again, but this time managed to find her voice. "He didn't hurt me, but I had a premonition of him in the Underworld."

"C'mon." Coop took her hand and led her out of the bedroom and out into the living room where his two older daughters Prue and Madeline were standing, looking nervous.

"Dad, what happened? Wyatt and Chris said-" Prue started, but Coop interrupted.

"Everything's fine." It was a common thing for Coop to say around his children. The lives they led were dangerous, and he always tried his best to shelter them from it. But when Whitney stepped out from behind him, Prue and Madeline were on her in an instant, asking if she was all right. She assured them for the fifth time that she was, allowing them to hug her.

"Where's your mother?" Coop asked.

"She went down into the basement with Wy and Chris," Madeline said. "I think they were gonna try interrogating him."

Coop nodded. "All right, stay here. I'm gonna look around outside to make sure he didn't bring any friends with him. If something happens, shimmer to the manor. Just get out, understand?"

Prue nodded. "We will." When their father had disappeared outside, Prue looked down at her sister again, demanding that she tell them exactly what happened.

"He didn't do anything," she repeated. "I just had a premonition, and I got scared. But I'm okay now."

Madeline gave her older sister a knowing look. Being the only empath of the three, she could feel her baby sister's fear and it made her afraid too. It wasn't all that rare that demons attacked, but for one to come in the form of one of Whitney's friends from school? That was what was so frightening. It meant that anyone they knew could be a demon, and that was a realization they hadn't made yet.

* * *

Downstairs in the basement, Wyatt and Chris set up crystals in a circle around Dylan to make a cage, while Phoebe stood by, trying to keep a level head. With what her nephews had told her so far, it seemed as though not only had a demon been in her baby's bedroom, but her baby had willingly let him come inside. Even if he wasn't a demon, she was sneaking boys into her bedroom. Eleven years old was awful young to be doing that.

"What do you think?" Chris asked his brother. "Shape shifter or possessor demon?"

Wyatt shrugged. "If he's a shape shifter, it means the real Dylan could be cloaked in the Underworld, which would explain why we couldn't scry for him. If he's just being possessed, you'd think we'd still be able to find him."

"Not necessarily," Phoebe said, in a bit of a monotone. The stress of the situation was clear in her voice. "The presence of the demon inside him could overpower the part that scrying zeroes in on."

"I still don't understand why the demon didn't try to defend himself. If he even is a demon. He could have attacked us or at the very least shimmered out."

"He has to have reasons for possessing this kid, or shape shifting into him, whatever," Wyatt said. "Maybe he doesn't want to give up his identity yet. Maybe he's hoping we won't figure it out and we'll let him go."

"If he's possessed," Phoebe started, "It could be that he's taken on Dylan's persona completely. He could have absorbed Dylan's powers and in the process sacrificed his own. At least while he's inside Dylan."

Chris frowned. "Does that really happen?"

Phoebe shrugged. "I've seen it happen. What I want to know is why he was here."

"It's gotta to be about Whitney," Chris said.

"Unless the demon was just using Whitney's trust to get to the Charmed Ones," Wyatt said, giving his Aunt Phoebe a questionable look. "Wouldn't be the first time, right?"

Phoebe shrugged again, and nodded minutely. But then Wyatt frowned. "Wait."

"What?" Chris asked.

"We're working under the assumption that Dylan is lying. Should we not also consider that he's telling the truth? Maybe he really isn't a demon."

"How do you explain Whitney's premonition?" Chris asked.

"That it's just that, a premonition. Not a vision of the past, but of the future," Wyatt said. "Maybe he isn't a demon, not yet anyway."

"Well, then it'd have to be a possessor demon. Whitney wouldn't have had a premonition about the demon by touching Dylan unless the demon was inside Dylan," Chris explained.

Phoebe let out a deep sigh and turned her back on her nephews, running her hands over her face and into her hair. Wyatt and Chris exchanged a frown. "Aunt Phoebe?" Chris asked.

"Are you all right?" Wyatt added.

Phoebe sighed and turned around, a nervous look on her face. "It's been too many years," she said. "I can't keep defending my family. Me, and Piper, and Paige…there were so many times that we thought it was over. That we could finally live in peace, but something always takes that away from us. Twenty-five years we've been doing this. I'm old, and I'm tired."

There was a long silence. It was Chris that finally spoke. "It's not your job anymore, Aunt Phoebe."

"Of course it is."

"No, it's ours," Wyatt said. "It's our destiny to continue the Charmed legacy. You've done your part. Now let us do ours."

Phoebe wanted to tell them that they were still too young, and that even though they'd both fought numerous demons, neither of them was ready for the dangers that being a Charmed one warranted. It was too soon. But she was stopped from saying anything when their demon friend started to stir.

Wyatt and Chris immediately turned their attention on the boy, waiting for him to completely awaken and see what they were dealing with.

Dylan groaned. He blinked several times before one long blink. Sitting up, he noticed the crystal cage around him and sighed in frustration. "I'm not a demon," he said as if he'd already said it a hundred times.

"Prove it," Chris said.

"Prove that I am," Dylan countered. "Look, I don't know what Whitney saw, but I swear I haven't done anything wrong. She's my friend, and I would never hurt her."

Wyatt jerked his head to the corner, signaling that Chris and Phoebe should follow him. "We need a plan of action," Wyatt said in a hushed voice.

"Truth spell?" Chris asked.

Phoebe shook her head. "Never a good idea."

Chris rolled his eyes. "I know sometimes there's some backlash, but they always work."

"Can't we just have Mom freeze him?" Wyatt asked. "If he's a witch, he won't freeze. If he's a demon, he will."

"Will that still work if he's possessing him?"

Phoebe nodded. "If the demon's inside Dylan, the demon will freeze and Dylan can walk away from the demon. We once knew a witch that was possessed and that's exactly how it worked."

"I'll get Mom," Chris said. He was about to orb, but Phoebe reached out and grabbed his arm.

"Take the girls with you. I'd rather them stay at the manor tonight. Even if he isn't a demon, I'm not convinced that everything's fine yet."

Chris nodded. "All right." He turned and went upstairs to tell his cousins to pack some of their things for the night.

"Excuse me!" Dylan cut in rudely from behind them. He had gotten to his feet now. "If you've got no proof then let me go. My parents are probably worried."

"Like you care if your parents are worried," Wyatt said. "You snuck out, which apparently you've been doing for weeks."

"So? You can bet anything that when they find out what you're doing to me, they'll make you sorry. They may not be witches, but that doesn't mean they won't be a threat," Dylan said.

"Save me the speech," Wyatt said. Blue orbs appeared and materialized into Piper. "Where's Chris?" Wyatt asked.

"Your father wanted to talk to him. He orbed me here." She clapped her hands together. "All right, is this him?"

"Yeah," Wyatt said, wondering about his brother. They'd both been worried that Leo would be angry about how they handled the situation. Chris was most likely getting grilled.

Piper sighed. "All right." She held her hands out, with the intent to freeze him, but nothing happened. She tried a couple more times before shrugging. "He seems legit."

"Thank you!" Dylan said in a smug tone.

"Well, wait, Mom. Just because-"

"You and your brother jumped to conclusions and put this poor boy through an unnecessary ordeal. Apologize and be done with it."

"We had reasons for suspecting him," Wyatt said. "And I still don't trust him."

"Piper," Phoebe stepped in. "Whitney had a premonition of him in the Underworld, using demonic powers. Something isn't right about this."

"Well, then we'll keep an eye on him. Whatever Whitney saw clearly hasn't happened yet. But caging him was too much. And that bruise on his face?"

"I had to incapacitate him," Wyatt argued. "C'mon, Mom. If it were Melinda, you would have done the same thing. I think this is Dad talking more than you."

"I agree, Piper," Phoebe said. "You're not exactly in the business of giving people the benefit of the doubt. Remember Billie and Christy?"

Piper rolled her eyes. "The Angel of Destiny had taken Leo away from me. I wanted to find the threat, so of course I was suspicious of everyone. This is a different situation." Before they could debate it further, Piper kicked one of the crystals away, breaking the cage and allowing Dylan to step through.

Dylan gave Wyatt an ugly look and then started walking up the stairs. Piper looked at Phoebe. "The girls can still stay with us if that'll make you feel better."

Phoebe nodded. "Just for tonight. I want them safe."

Piper nodded back, and held her hand out to Wyatt. "Let's go home."

Wyatt sighed and took her hand. As they started to orb away, Wyatt released his grip on his mother, allowing her to complete the journey back to the manor while he remained in Phoebe and Coop's basement. Wyatt locked eyes with Phoebe. "I still don't trust him."

"I don't either. Something in my gut tells me…" She shook her head. "And my gut is rarely wrong."

* * *

At the manor, Piper was briefly surprised that Wyatt wasn't with her, but at the same time, this was typical behavior of her son. She shook her head in annoyance, "Here, I thought he'd matured…" She let out a frustrated growl.

Leo popped his head out of their bedroom. "Something wrong?"

Piper sighed and walked passed Leo into the room. Leo shut the door behind her as she started to rant, "It's always about demons in this family. It's all Wyatt and Chris think about anymore. I'm just tired of it." She sat down heavily on the bed, and Leo sat beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "I just want things to be normal."

"I think we learned a long time ago that normal wasn't possible," Leo said with a deep sigh.

"I know. You'd think I'd have given up by now, but I still wish for it every day." She paused. "Where's Chris?"

"Supposedly in his room, but it wouldn't surprise me if he left."

Piper shook her head at yet another typical behavior of her children. "What'd you say to him?"

"Well, I told him that if he had concerns, he should have come to me first. I said it was wrong to follow the boy, and I told him that as a teacher, he acted very irresponsibly."

"I hear a 'but' in all of that."

Leo gave her a small smile. "_But _I think as a witch, he did what he thought was best. If he and Wyatt hadn't been there, something could have happened to Whitney."

"The boy wasn't a demon."

"But he could have been."

"We'll have to deal with his parents now. They won't appreciate the way their son was treated."

Leo shrugged. "Well, I'll just explain to them that it wasn't meant to hurt Dylan, but help him. If they thought he was possessed or missing, then Wyatt and Chris did what they did to protect him. They'll have to understand that."

Piper sighed. Maybe she had overreacted. The safety of this family was always priority one. But still, it felt wrong that an innocent boy had gotten caught up in this. And if she knew her sons, she knew that the subject wasn't dropped yet. As much as she questioned their judgment sometimes, she was sure that neither of them would do something drastic unless they were one hundred percent sure.

"Is everyone in bed?" Piper asked.

"Yeah, Prue, Madeline, and Whitney are all in Melinda's room. Are Phoebe and Coop staying there?"

Piper nodded. "Phoebe still thinks something's wrong so I'm sure she'll be up all night looking into it. Wyatt and Chris included."

"Well, they'll back down when they find nothing. Just let them explore it. For Phoebe, I'm sure she's just scared at what could have happened tonight. If it were Melinda-"

"Yes, I know," Piper interrupted, having already heard it from Wyatt. "I would have been just as convinced he was evil."

Leo smiled. He and Piper got ready for bed and snuggled up together beneath the covers, while Phoebe, Wyatt, and Chris continued their investigation of Dylan Thompson.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, concepts, or plot arcs of Charmed.

"Henry wait." Jessica grabbed her brother's arm in the hallway outside their bedrooms and pulled him back. "You can't tell them what happened last night."

"I have to," he said, trying to pull his arm away. "That fact that she survived last night is only going to encourage her to keep doing this. She's our sister; we can't let that happen."

"If you tell Mom and Dad, they're only going to punish her and that'll just piss her off. That's not how you deal with Allison."

"Well, if that's the case then Mom and Dad should know how to deal with her." Henry turned to walk to the end of the hall to the living room, but Jessica grabbed his arm again. "We can't stay out of this anymore, Jess," he said in a hushed, yet firm, tone. "It was fine when it was just casting spells, but now she's…she could have gotten killed last night. She's not ready for demons, and Mom and Dad need to know that she thinks she is."

"I'm not saying that we have to stay out of it. But there is another option than telling on her."

"Which is?"

"We can handle it ourselves. Maybe she won't listen to us, but she definitely won't listen to Mom and Dad. So it's worth a shot."

Henry sighed.

"Look, I have a feeling that Melinda is gonna tell Wyatt, and I'm sure that Wyatt will try to fix this himself since he's her white lighter. Without telling Mom and Dad. We'll have back-up."

"I don't-" Henry immediately shut his mouth when the door opened behind them and Allison came sauntering out with a pleasant "Good morning," as she passed by her siblings. She was acting as though she'd vanquished the demon last night instead of almost getting killed by him.

Jessica gave her slightly younger brother a warning look, and then they both followed Allison through the living room and into the kitchen. Henry Sr. was at the stove, scrambling several eggs in a skillet.

"Good morning," he said cheerfully. Allison returned the greeting in the same tone, while Henry Jr. and Jessica gave their father the smallest of smiles. The three children slid up on the stools at the breakfast bar. Henry Sr. had already set three plates and three glasses of juice in front of each stool.

"Something wrong?" He dished out the eggs on their plates, eyeing Jessica and Henry Jr. in particular. His son opened his mouth to say something, but Jessica cut in.

"Nothing Dad. Big math test today," she lied.

"Both of you?" he asked, skeptically.

"I do," Jessica said. "But Henry helped me study so he's nervous for me." She offered a brother a look that told him to play along.

He sighed and said in a monotone voice, "I'm sure you'll do fine."

"You know, if you guys went to magic school, you wouldn't have to deal with that crap," Allison put in.

"There's nothing wrong with going to a nice, normal, non-magic school," Henry Sr. said. He walked over to the sink to wash out the empty egg pan.

"Where's Mom?" Jessica asked.

"She's on the phone with your Aunt Piper," Henry Sr. said. Two slices of bread popped out of the toaster and he plucked them out with his fingers and plopped them on a plate with two other slices he's toasted. He put the plate on the bar top and Henry Jr. immediately grabbed one and started scooping his eggs onto the bread.

Allison's attention was still focused on her mother being on the phone with her aunt. Sure, there were times when they chatted about nothing, but usually if one of her aunts was calling this early in the morning, or vice versa, something was going on. Allison could faintly hear her mom's voice from the sitting room near the front door, but it was difficult to understand what she was saying.

"All right, it's about that time," Henry Sr. said with coyness in his voice as he looked at the clock. No one seemed to complain much as they munched down the last bits of their breakfast and downed the rest of their juice. Henry Sr. started clearing the plates as they got off their stools.

Paige came into the room at that moment, looking a bit distressed. She seemed startled to see her children for some odd reason and quickly wiped the worried look of her face. But Allison didn't miss it.

"What's going on with Piper?" Henry Sr. asked.

"Nothing," Paige said quickly. Too quickly. It was easy to see she was lying, and while Henry Jr. and Jessica didn't seem all that interested, Allison was, and she was determined to find out what was going on.

"Okay guys, time for school," Henry Sr. said, sensing that his wife wanted to talk. Jessica and Henry. Jr headed to the front of the house to wait for the bus and Allison orbed, presumably to magic school. Once the front door had closed, Henry looked up from doing the dishes at his wife. "So what's really up?"

Paige sighed. "I don't even know. They thought that a demon had gone after Whitney, but I guess it wasn't a demon."

"Whitney?" Henry echoed. "She's a sweet little girl. Why would a demon want to hurt her?"

"Well, it wasn't a demon," Paige said. "But she's a Halliwell. She's the child of a Charmed One. It happens."

"Our children are also children of a Charmed One."

"Yep," Paige nodded, "We've been lucky so far."

"There's more to this story," Henry said, shaking his with a bit in confusion. He still didn't understand how they had mistaken a person for a demon.

"All right, well apparently Whitney knows this kid at school. Dylan. They're friends. And he came over last night and she had a premonition of…Dylan…in the Underworld, using demonic powers to kill a demon."

"How does that not make him a demon?"

"He denied it, and Piper tried freezing him and nothing happened, which would prove he's a witch and not a demon."

"So why the premonition?" Henry asked.

"The theory is that whatever Whitney saw hasn't happened yet. So the way I see it, this Dylan kid for now is an innocent. Until a demon possesses him or…something. It's all very confusing."

"Well, if he goes to school with Whitney then Leo can keep an eye on him."

"Exactly," Paige said. "I think we just need to wait it out."

Henry finished putting the last plate in the dishwasher and glanced again at the clock. "All right, I gotta get to work."

Paige gave him a kiss and allowed him to wrap his arms around her waist. She nodded her head at the plate Henry had set aside. "Thanks for the breakfast."

"Love you." Henry gave her another kiss and then started heading for the front door as Paige called that she loved him too. As he passed through the living room, he was unaware that Allison had orbed out only seconds before, having heard every word they'd said.

* * *

Leo looked up from the grade reports he was reviewing when he heard a familiar voice that he hadn't expected to hear this early in the day. He sighed when he saw his son's eager face. "The one day you're on time is the day I told you not to come," Leo said.

Chris's face fell. "C'mon Dad, you know you didn't mean all that stuff you said. You wouldn't fire me."

"I didn't fire you, Chris. I relieved you of your responsibilities here. Because I know how much you hate it."

"I want to give it another chance," Chris said.

Leo stared at his son for a long time, noticing the disheveled hair, the almost half-lidded eyes, and a couple day's worth of stubble. He sighed. "You're here because Dylan might be here. Did you even sleep last night? Did Wyatt?"

Chris's shoulders slumped, knowing he was busted. "We're suspicious, and we're trying to follow through on those suspicions."

"Well, did you find anything?"

"No." Chris seemed hesitant to admit it. "We followed him home, he went in the house, and we never saw him again."

"There you go," Leo said.

"That doesn't mean that something isn't going to happen. A demon could hijack his body at any second, any time. It could have happened last night or this morning and we'd have no idea."

"Uh huh, and considering you watched him all night last night and still don't know if he's possessed, it doesn't seem like your stake-outs are doing anything."

"We weren't just staking out. Aunt Phoebe was trying to get premonitions off of stuff nearby, you know, since we couldn't go _into _the house."

"And did that work?"

"No, but then she tried it with one of Dylan's pencils, which his parents gave me to scry with." Chris frowned. "But that didn't really work either."

"So in conclusion, your all nighter did not pay off."

"No. But," he paused, "You and Mom raised me to not give up. I am determined to get to the bottom of this."

Leo smirked and then smiled. "Chris, go home. Get some sleep. And if you can find your brother, make him do the same."

"Dad-"

"You have done your part, and we are very grateful for you being so thorough, but this is my shift, all right? It's time for you to go off the clock."

Chris shook his head. "But-"

"Don't argue with me. Go home." Leo could see Chris's disappointment written all over his face, but he was relieved when Chris obliged, orbing out with a deep frown.

* * *

Whitney had stayed close to her sister Madeline all morning, but now that classes were about to start, they were going to have to separate. Outside of Whitney's classroom, Madeline took her hand out of Whitney's and put it on her shoulder instead. "Will you be all right?" Madeline asked.

"What do I say to him if he's in there?"

"You don't have to say anything. It may not be his fault, but it might take some time to get that trust back. You have every right to be scared," Madeline said.

Whitney nodded. "Thanks Maddy."

"No problem, sis. Just remember that if anything happens, me, and Allison, and Uncle Leo are all here. Just find one of us."

"Okay." Whitney forced a smile and turned to go into the classroom. Immediately, she glanced around in search of Dylan. Sure enough, he was sitting in the seat he always sat in. The one next to him was empty, as it usually was since she sat beside him.

Whitney averted her eyes before Dylan met her gaze, and she quickly took a seat on the other side of the room. She sunk down in her chair, hoping he wouldn't notice her. It was a failed attempt when he stood up and instantly stared towards her. There were still empty chairs around her and she cursed herself for not picking a place in the room where all the seats were full.

Dylan sat down next to her. "Can we talk?"

"Maybe later. Not now, okay?"

"Just give me a chance to explain." When she didn't say anything, he took that as permission. But then he glanced around the room nervously. "Can we go in the hall?"

"I'd rather stay here," she said, trying to stay strong.

"We've still got almost ten minutes until class starts. Please." He waited for her response, but she was avoiding his eyes. "There're plenty of people out there if that's what you're afraid of."

Whitney sighed and stood up, agreeing. She led the way into the hall. Once they were in a much more private area, with people walking by rather than sitting and listening, he took a deep breath.

"I know you're confused, and probably freaked, but I'm not a bad guy. And I'm certainly not a demon."

"It wasn't a premonition of the future, was it? You knew what I saw."

"I'm a good person," he insisted. "I killed a demon."

"It's not what you did. It's the way you did it."

Dylan smirked. "Classic female response," he muttered.

"Excuse me?" she said, having no trouble hearing what he said. "You used demonic powers. I saw it."

Dylan sighed in frustrated. He lowered his voice. "I'm not completely a witch, okay? I can't control what's in my blood, but I can control how I handle it."

Whitney furrowed her eyebrows. "Are you…are you saying that you really _are _a demon?"

"_Part _demon," he said slowly. "But I'm also part witch."

"But your parents. You talk about your Mom _and _Dad. If one of them's a demon…"

"They're not my real parents. They helped me find my real father last year, and he explained the whole thing. I guess he gave me up because he was ashamed of what he'd done, and I was just a reminder of it."

"How could he have a baby with a demon?"

"I don't know. But as soon as I was born, he knew that my mother would raise me to be evil. He didn't want that to happen so he vanquished her."

Whitney looked at him sympathetically, her doubts and fears in Dylan beginning to evaporate as she saw how vulnerable he was. It seemed like he'd never talked about this with anyone before.

"But you still have your demonic powers," she said.

"They're part of who I am," he said. "I use them for good. It's easy to vanquish demons with these powers."

"But you're only twelve. My older sisters don't even hunt demons."

Dylan shrugged. "Every person is different. I feel comfortable doing it. Not at all scared."

Whitney chuckled a little. "I don't know how."

There was a moment of silence before Dylan said, "Now you know. I hope you can trust me again."

She smiled. "I'm not gonna lie. You scared me, but you still seem like you. I'm sorry I didn't give you a chance to explain."

Dylan smiled back and looked up at the clock. "Guess we should get in there." He put a gentle hand on her shoulder and opened the door for her, just like a gentleman. What Whitney didn't know was that the story Dylan had told her was only half true.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, concepts, or plot arcs of Charmed.

When Melinda got home from school, the first thing she did was make a beeline for the stairs. Before she could climb up, her mom walked into the dining room. "Melinda."

"Oh hi Mom." Melinda smiled and then started up the stairs.

"Wait, hold on a second." Piper came closer to stand at the bottom of the stairs and looked up at her daughter, who'd made it to the first landing. "How was your day?"

"Fine. I just really need to talk to Wyatt."

"Well, he's sleeping. Your brothers stayed up all night trying to find out if this boy is after Whitney."

Melinda frowned. "And is he?"

"It's not exactly clear yet." She frowned. "Why do you need to talk to Wyatt?"

She shrugged. "Just stupid sibling stuff."

"Sounds more serious than that. You seem awfully rushed to get upstairs."

"I just want to make sure I catch him. He's been orbing in and out all night and I have yet to see him."

"If it's not important, I'd rather you just let him be. The second he wakes up, I'm sure it's gonna be nothing but investigation all over again. Plus he has to make up his shift from yesterday at the restaurant."

"Oh." Melinda was slightly crestfallen.

"If it _is _important, you can talk to me."

Piper watched her daughter squirm a bit, like she wasn't sure what she should do. In the end, Melinda sighed and shook her head. "It's not important. I'm gonna get started on my homework."

"Homework? You've only got three days of school left."

"Yeah, it's just my art project."

"Let me know if you need anything."

Melinda nodded and scurried up the stairs. She knew Wyatt had a lot on his plate, but technically Whitney's problem was more her Dad and Chris's concern. And Whitney was Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Coop's daughter so they probably had a handle on it. There were plenty of people to help Whitney. It was her brother's responsibility to help Allison and Melinda was going to make sure he knew that.

But as she rounded the corner for her brother's bedroom, Allison orbed in right in front of her. Melinda forced a smile.

"So how's my favorite cousin today?"

"I'm not hunting any more demons with you," Melinda said.

"That's not why I'm here," Allison insisted. "I just came to apologize for last night. I shouldn't have gotten so angry. You were right."

"I was?" Melinda had her doubts.

"I still think that I'm ready for this, _but _I went in there way too cocky. I should have been more prepared. We should have tried to figure out who the demons were first. Done a little research, reconnaissance, that kind of thing. So that we'd know what we were up against."

"Definitely." Melinda was still hesitant to believe that Allison really felt what she was saying. Her suspicions were proven right a few seconds later.

"Okay…so…I need your help again."

"Allison!" Melinda threw her hands up in exasperation.

"No, don't worry. I don't plan on going after any demons. I just want to go talk to a few people, and I want someone to go with me. I know I can trust you, since you haven't told anyone what happened, and you wouldn't tell me to stay out of it."

"Stay out of what?"

"I talked to Whitney at school today. I wanted to know more about this Dylan kid."

"That's not our problem."

"All right, you weren't supposed to say that, remember? She's our cousin. How can we stay out of it?"

"Because it's our parents' job to handle that stuff."

"It won't be forever. No offense to them, but they're getting old. They can't do this demon stuff for the rest of their lives. We'll have to take over at some point."

"Yeah, at some point. Not now. We're still kids!"

"Which is exactly why I'm giving us this job. I told you, all I want to do is talk to some people. See if I can figure out more about who he is. And if we do, then we can tell Chris and Wyatt and they can take care of it."

"I don't know. I feel like you're tricking me."

"Tricking you into what?"

"Going after more demons."

"I promise that's not what I'm after. Just listen to my plan," Allison paused. "Whitney told me that Dylan said he was adopted. That his father was a witch, and his mom was a demon."

"Okay…"

"That explains why he has both witch and demon powers. I want to go talk to his parents and see what they know about his birth parents. Dylan said he found his birth dad about a year ago. So if we can find his birth dad, then maybe we can learn more about Dylan."

"What do you think his parents are gonna tell us that he didn't already tell Whitney?"

"Well, for one, he may have completely lied about being adopted. I don't know. But that's why I want to find out."

Melinda considered the decision for several seconds. She sighed and shifted her weight nervously from foot to foot. "It's just talking?"

"No demons, I swear." Allison was smiling, like she already knew Melinda was accepting.

"All right, fine." Before Melinda could say anything, Allison had orbed them directly to Dylan's house. Melinda crossed her arms, already feeling a bit uneasy. "What if Dylan's here? Do we really want him to know we're talking to his parents?"

Allison shook her head. "He stayed after so Uncle Leo could help him get caught up on schoolwork. He's still at magic school." She rang the doorbell.

Ben Thompson opened the door and Allison offered him a friendly smile. "Hi there. I'm Allison Mitchell, and this is my cousin Melinda. We go to school with Dylan."

Ben nodded, waiting for more, which Allison provided. "We just wanted to ask you a couple questions about him. To maybe help figure out what's going on with him lately."

"You talked to my brother yesterday," Melinda put in for good measure. "Chris?"

"Oh right," Ben said, smiling. "Has your brother found anything? We're really starting to get worried about Dylan." He stepped aside so they could come in.

"You mean," Allison paused, "Dylan didn't tell you what happened last night? With him going to our cousin's house and…" She trailed off at the blank look on the man's face. "Obviously not."

"What happened?"

"If he didn't tell you, it's probably not our place," Allison said, relieved that Dylan hadn't said anything. She wasn't about to elaborate now, considering if Dylan's parents knew what their family had put Dylan through the night before, they would have been very angry and reluctant to talk to them.

"Please sit down," Ben offered them a seat in the living room. "My wife's at work right now, but I'll try to answer what questions you have."

Melinda sat next to Allison on the couch, allowing her to take the lead since this was all her idea. Allison cleared her throat. "Well, we know that Dylan's adopted."

"Yes. We adopted him when he was just a few months old."

"What do you know about his birth parents?"

"Uhhh…" Ben struggled for an answer. "Nothing, to be honest. He was left on some woman's doorstep. No one ever saw who left him, and there was no record of his birth. We only knew his name because of a note."

"But didn't Dylan find his birth father?" Allison asked, confused.

"He wanted to. Last year he got very interested in finding his birth parents. We even went to speak to the woman he was left with, but she said she didn't know anything. Everyone just assumed the parents left Dylan at a random house."

"Really," Allison said. In her head, she was mulling over this information. She raised her eyebrow. "Can you tell us where this random house is?"

* * *

"What makes you think she'll talk to us?" Melinda asked. "She wouldn't talk to Dylan or his parents."

"Don't worry. We'll make her talk." Allison rang the doorbell. Melinda didn't like the tone of her voice. She sounded angry with this woman before they'd even spoken to her.

When the door opened, the woman opened it only a crack, the chain stopping her from opening it all the way. "Who are you?"

"We're here about Dylan Thompson," Allison said sternly.

"I don't know who you're talking about."

Allison cocked an eyebrow. She held out her hand. "Chain." The chain restraining the door orbed into her hand, and Allison forcefully pushed the door open. Because she'd caught the woman off guard, it was quite easy, and the woman stumbled backwards as the two girls came in.

"Who are you?"

"I think you know who we are," Allison said. "'Cause see, I find it hard to believe that a half-witch, half-demon was left on some _random _person's doorstep. I think you know exactly who Dylan Thompson is." She slammed the front door shut behind her for good measure and threw the chain across the room. "You better start talking."

"You're just a couple little girls. You don't scare me."

"Then why are you shaking?" Allison asked. "We have no intention of hurting you. We're daughters of the Charmed Ones so we're not evil. But we do have a truth spell at our disposal. That'll certainly get your gums flapping. Your choice."

"I was afraid of this," the woman said quietly.

"Afraid of what?" Melinda finally spoke, her voice much more gentle than Allison's.

"Has Dylan done something?" the woman asked.

Allison raised an eyebrow. "Is there a reason you think he would have?"

"You said it. You know he's part demon."

"Yes, we do. How do _you _know he's part demon?"

The woman sighed, falling into a nearby chair heavily. "Dylan's my nephew."

"Your _nephew_?" Allison echoed.

"I didn't even know about Dylan until my brother showed up one day with this baby. He said he was his son and that he was in danger. Told me that a demon was after both him and Dylan."

"How did you not know your brother had a baby?" Allison asked.

"Because my brother stopped speaking to me a year before that. I knew he was getting too chummy with that demon, but he wouldn't listen to me because I wasn't a witch like he was. He trusted her for some ridiculous reason. And then the second the baby was born, she showed her true colors."

"What happened to your brother?" Melinda asked.

"After he left Dylan with me, he disappeared. My husband was still alive at the time so I left Dylan with him while I went looking for Eric – my brother. It took weeks for me to find out that he was dead. Traya killed him."

"Traya?"

"His demon lover," she said. "Dylan's mom. I knew then that Traya was probably out looking for Dylan. I didn't think it was safe for him to stay with us."

"So you put him in foster care and lied about being related to him," Allison said in an accusatory tone.

"We did it for his safety."

"But you don't know that he would find parents that loved and cared for him. He could have been in the system his entire life," Allison argued.

"At least he would have been alive."

Allison was about to open her mouth again, but Melinda stepped in. "I think that's all we need to know. Thank you for talking to us."

The woman didn't say anything as the girls left, closing the door behind them. "I can't believe that woman. Abandoning her nephew like that," Allison said.

"I know you're pissed," Melinda said. "About what your dad went through in foster care and your mom-"

"Abandoned at some church."

"It was for good reason. You know your grandparents loved your mom. They did what they did to protect her, just like Dylan's aunt did for him. And it all worked out in the end for your parents. Though for Dylan, I don't think it has."

Allison didn't say anything.

Melinda sighed. "Look, I think we know now that Dylan is a big fat liar. But I don't think Traya wants him dead. Never did."

Allison nodded. "He's her son. Even a demon wouldn't kill her own child. Especially after the trouble she went through to get pregnant. She probably never loved Dylan's dad."

"It was all deception. Just like Dylan's deceiving Whitney now." Melinda shook her head. "We've gotta tell somebody."

"C'mon." Allison grabbed her hand and they orbed.

* * *

Leo was in the great hall, watching Dylan read through a chapter in his textbook to prepare for an oral exam. Dylan had already missed two of his final tests that week because of absence. Normally, Leo wouldn't let students make up exams like this, but Dylan seemed to be a special case. He'd always been a good student, so it was clear that something was bothering him, making it difficult to focus on his studies.

From down the hall, Leo could see Whitney approaching. He sighed and stood up, telling Dylan he'd be back in a moment. He met her halfway down the long hallway, but it was too late. Dylan had looked up and seen her, flashing her a smile. She smiled back and gave him a small wave.

"I thought you'd gone home," Leo said to his niece.

"I did. But I came back to see how Dylan was doing."

"He's studying now for his potions final. You shouldn't be here. If a demon is after him-"

"I don't think a demon is after him. I think my premonition was wrong." Whitney felt uneasy holding back information from her uncle, but she knew they wouldn't understand him being half-demon. She knew the stories of her mother's first real love for Cole. In the end, he couldn't handle his half-demon side and ultimately became the Source of all evil. Her family likely would have little trust in Dylan.

"What do you mean?" Leo asked gently.

"I think I misunderstood it. I don't think he was using demonic powers. I think they were witch powers. I just got confused."

"Either way," Leo said, "If he was in the Underworld, then he's in danger. We should protect him."

Whitney smiled, glad that her uncle was seeing Dylan as a victim rather than an aggressor. She'd been frightened of her friend at first, but now that she understood him, she felt protective of him as well.

There was a crash several feet away, and Leo looked over just in time to see Dylan thrown against a bookcase. A man in black stood in the center of the great hall. Leo looked frantically at Whitney, "Go home now."

He ran down the hall to get to Dylan and the demon, but the demon had vanished, leaving Dylan in a heap on the floor. Leo went to check on him, all the while thinking, how could a demon get into magic school? This can't be happening again.

He wasn't aware that Whitney had been slow to listen to him. He heard her scream a second later and shot to his feet. He ran to the entrance of the great hall just in time to see the demon wrap his arms around Whitney's small frame.

"NO!" he shouted. He ran to try to get to her, but the demon extended his arm quickly, launching Leo backwards, over the desk in the back of the room and landing on the floor. His head bounced against its hard surface, knocking him unconscious.

In the Underworld, Dylan was still wincing from being thrown into that bookcase, rubbing his shoulder gingerly. He glanced over at Whitney who was lying on the cold, dirty floor, her light brown hair spilling over her face and shoulders. He reached out to her and moved the hair back, caressing her cheek. He knew she couldn't feel it in her unconscious state, but he hoped it calmed her all the same.

"Don't worry, Whitney. I won't let anyone hurt you," he said softly.

He heard footsteps and looked up to see a woman with dark hair, dressed in a long purple dress come into the demon's lair. Dylan got to his feet and walked towards her. She put her hands on both his shoulders and looked him in the eye.

"I can see you're nervous," she said.

"She'll be okay, right? You don't want to hurt her."

"Of course not. She's not the target, remember?" She stroked his cheek with her knuckles, in the same gentle way that Dylan had touched Whitney. She smiled. "Everything will be all right, my sweet. I love you."

"I love you too Mom."


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, concepts, or plot arcs of Charmed.

Wyatt was standing behind his father, who was slumped down on the antique couch in the great hall of magic school. Wyatt's hands glowed as he healed the large bump on the back of Leo's head, but Wyatt's eyes were focused on the people staring solemnly at him. Coop had come looking for Whitney and had found the room slightly trashed and his brother-in-law out cold on the floor. And now the eyes of Wyatt's mother, brother, two aunts, and one uncle were all looking decidedly worried.

"Leo," Piper said once Wyatt had finished healing him. She sat down next to him and put her hand on his thigh. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," he said, still wincing. He looked up, his face going from pained to somber when he saw Phoebe and Coop. "Whitney was here when the demon attacked."

Phoebe wavered and Coop immediately reached out to steady her. He helped her to sit down and tried to find his voice. "But she's not here now."

"The demon must have taken her. I am so sorry." Leo's voice cracked. Piper grasped his hand tightly and looked over at her sister. Phoebe was pale and her eyes were wide. Piper watched the way her chest hitched as she tried to breathe. And then Piper locked eyes with Chris, who had his arm around Paige to comfort her. The room was dead silent. Whitney's abduction and the fact that a demon had gotten back into magic school had them all stunned.

Wyatt finally spoke, clearing his throat. "We'll find her. Dad, you can identify the demon in the Book of Shadows and me and Chris can go get her."

Leo nodded and slipped his hand from Piper's, getting to his feet and walking towards Wyatt. Chris gave Paige one last squeeze before releasing his aunt to join his brother and dad.

"Be careful," Piper managed, her voice tight with restrained tears. The three of them orbed out.

"They'll get her back," Coop whispered, pulling his wife to his chest. "We're not gonna lose our baby. I promise." He had tears sliding down his cheeks, but Phoebe remained emotionless.

There was another awkward silence until Piper sensed movement beside her and noticed Paige coming closer. Paige said in a hoarse voice, "We should get the kids together. So we know everyone's safe."

Piper nodded. "You go start rounding everyone up. Take them to the manor." She paused and looked at Phoebe. "We'll be there soon." The sound of Paige's orbs told Piper that she'd left.

* * *

The attic was nothing but silence with the exception of the frequent page turns Leo was doing in the book, trying to find the demon. Wyatt paced and Chris leaned against the wall by the door, his arms crossed over his chest and his head down.

It was like the mute button had been depressed when Allison's voice spoke loudly in the quiet, "Oh good, you guys are all here." She and Melinda came into the attic; Chris looked up and Wyatt stopped pacing. But Leo stayed focused on his task.

"What's wrong?" Melinda asked, sensing the tension in the room.

"Whitney's missing," Wyatt said.

"What?" Allison nearly shouted. "Oh God, we're too late."

"What do you mean, too late?" Chris asked.

"We found out a bunch of stuff about Dylan, and you were right not to trust him," Allison explained. Chris and Wyatt went closer, startled by this news. Leo stopped his search for the demon and looked up at the girls.

Melinda said, "He's half-witch, half-demon."

Allison continued, "Dylan told Whitney that his dad vanquished his mom when he was a baby to keep her from turning Dylan evil. But he lied. It was the other way around. His demon mom is still out there."

"You think they're working together then?" Chris asked.

"Why else would Dylan lie about his mom being dead?" Allison said.

Wyatt nodded. "He'd want her to believe that the evil influence in his life was dead. So she wouldn't have to worry. Do his parents know about this?"

"They have no idea that he even knows anything about his parents. They're clueless. Unless they lied too," Melinda explained.

"The demon that took her was male," Chris said. "Wasn't it, Dad?"

"Right," Leo said. "But the demon took Dylan too. Unless…Dylan was down when I got knocked out. But for all we know, he could have gone with the demons willingly. It could have all been a trick."

"To make him look innocent," Chris added.

"Dad, keep looking," Wyatt said. "If we find this demon, we can probably trace it back to Dylan's mom."

"Traya," Allison said. "That's her name."

"We'll need vanquishing potions," Chris said.

"We don't have time for that. I'll just do it myself," Wyatt said. He noticed the deep frown on his brother's face. "What?"

"You know how I feel when you use your powers like that." Chris had always gotten a bad feeling in his gut when Wyatt used his twice-blessed powers, particularly the one that allowed him to vanquish several demons at once with nothing but his hands. He could never really explain why it made him uneasy, but it always had.

"Our cousin's life is in danger, Chris. It's a one time thing," Wyatt said, his voice getting slightly angry. "Right Dad?"

Leo nodded, stopping on a page as he identified the demon. "Here." As Wyatt and Chris walked over, Leo put a hand on his younger son's shoulder. "Chris, it'll be fine. I promise." Leo knew where the anxiety of Wyatt's twice blessed powers came from, but he and Piper had sworn a long time ago that they would never tell any of their children that in another time Wyatt had been evil. They just hoped that Chris's unexplained bad feelings wouldn't turn into repressed memories. Ones that Chris would ultimately remember.

"Low level demon," Wyatt read. "It'll be a cinch."

"But what about Traya?" Allison insisted. "If she's behind this, you'll have to deal with her too. And I get the feeling that she's _not _a low level demon. You don't even know how to find the demon that took Whitney yet. And you can't scry for her when she's in the Underworld."

"Well we have to do something!" Wyatt yelled.

"I found Traya," Leo said. Chris looked over his dad's shoulder at the entry in the book. He inhaled sharply.

"Power of three spell." Chris shook his head. "Aunt Phoebe's not up to this."

"She'll have to be," Wyatt said. "Look, you guys go back to magic school and fill everyone in. Me and Chris will try to find the first demon."

"This is too dangerous," Melinda said.

"Melinda's right," Leo said. "There's a much more powerful demon involved now. I don't want you boys going alone."

"We're not _boys_," Wyatt argued. "We can handle this."

"Leo!" Piper called up the stairs. She came into the room a second later. "What's going on? Have you found the demon yet?"

Wyatt didn't want to sit through the same explanation again while Whitney could be hurt or dying. "Chris, let's go." He orbed out, knowing his brother well enough to know he'd follow.

Leo shook his head in disappointment at their departure. He took Piper's hand. "Let's go downstairs."

In the sitting room of the manor, the whole family, with the exception of Wyatt, Chris, and Whitney, had assembled, a somewhat rare occurrence. Phoebe still looked completely stricken, almost catatonic. Paige was holding her sister close while Coop's two oldest daughters Prue and Madeline were curled up next to him on the couch, their cheeks stained with tears and their eyes red. Henry was doing the same for his daughter Jessica while Henry Jr. bit his thumbnail, pacing.

When Paige saw Allison coming down the stairs, she jumped up and ran to her, pulling her into her arms. "Oh sweetie, I was so worried."

"We were here the whole time, Mom," Allison said, her voice muffled by her mom's shoulder. Paige almost laughed. It'd been a while since Allison had called her Mom instead of Mother.

"What is it? What's going on?" Piper asked, now that they were all together.

Leo sighed. "Whitney was taken by a low level demon. Wyatt and Chris went to find him to vanquish him. But something bigger is going on."

Allison stepped out of her mom's embrace so she could see her more clearly. "Me and Mel found out that Dylan's mom is a demon. And she's still alive, possibly working with Dylan to get to Whitney."

"Why would she want Whitney?" Coop asked, his voice near breaking.

"We don't know yet," Allison said.

Leo cleared his throat. "The only way to vanquish Dylan's mom is with the Power of Three."

Piper and Paige looked at each other and then simultaneously looked at Phoebe in concern. With the state of shock she was in, they were almost startled when she said in a harsh, raspy whisper, "I'll do it."

"Phoebe," Coop began.

"I don't have a choice. It's the only way to save our daughter."

* * *

"Can you sense her?" Chris asked, following his brother closely through the dark, narrow passageways of the Underworld.

Wyatt sighed and stopped. "I keep thinking I've got her and then it gets fuzzy. I think she's cloaked and I'm barely breaking through."

Chris sighed.

"What?"

"I'm just stressed," Chris replied. "Focus on Whitney right now. I'll shut up."

Wyatt rolled his eyes, knowing that there was more on his brother's mind than he was saying. But Chris was right. They didn't have time to argue about anything right now. Wyatt felt a pull in one direction – he could feel Whitney, and she wasn't far.

"I think we're getting-" Wyatt stopped as three demons shimmered in front of them, blocking their path. "Close," he finished. He held his hands out and a wave of fire erupted from his palms, engulfing the demons and exploding in large puffs of smoke and ashes.

Chris sucked in a breath as Wyatt lowered his hands. Wyatt cleared his throat. "All right. Now that that's out of the way…" He went to take a step forward, but four more demons replaced the three he'd just vanquished. And the sounds of more and more shimmering in around them occurred. Both Wyatt and Chris looked around, realizing now that they were surrounded.

Wyatt raised his hands to repeat the same process, but was stopped when a demon launched an energy ball at him. It struck him in the stomach and propelled him backwards into the hard cave wall.

Without vanquishing potions or the help of his twice-blessed brother, Chris felt instantly cornered. He whipped his arm across his chest to knock several demons off their feet. But there were at least ten still standing.

Panicking, Chris orbed to his brother, and immediately orbed again once he had his hands on him. When they reappeared, they were still in the Underworld but far away from the demons, and also from Whitney.

"Wyatt," Chris said, inspecting the wound. Wyatt was wincing and blood continued to pour from the vicious hole in his stomach. Chris held his hands over it, hoping that all of a sudden his healing powers would kick in, but Chris had little faith in that. All his life he could do nothing but orb and TK. "C'mon," he pleaded.

"You shouldn't have orbed," Wyatt said, his voice showing how much pain he was in. "We were close to Whitney. Now we have to find her again."

Chris ignored him, trying to focus on healing his brother. He tried to summon every white lighter gene inside him, but nothing was happening. "Damn it," he muttered. "We'll have to go back."

Wyatt dropped his head back to the ground, frustrated that he'd allowed himself to get hurt like this. He would have tried to insist that they stay, but he knew he was no use to anyone with a wound like this. So he let Chris orb him back to the manor.

* * *

"What do we do now?" Dylan asked his mother, the demon Traya. He glanced again at Whitney who was still out cold from the drug Dylan had insisted she be given. He refused to let anyone cause her any unnecessary injury.

Traya cupped her son's face and then moved her hand so that she was stroking the back of his neck. "We wait. Long enough for her to realize that no one is coming for her. The lair is cloaked now so they won't find us."

"But then what? I know her, Mom. She's not going to kill her own cousin. No matter what we do."

"Oh sweetheart, you act as though I expect her to do it right away. It's going to take years. But we'll convince her. It'll happen just as we planned." She paused, looking deep into his eyes. "Just as you foresaw in your premonition."

"But I didn't _see _anything. I only heard it, and it was really vague."

"Prophecies are always vague. But the way we're executing this is exactly how it will play out. I'm sure of it."

"We don't even know that Wyatt was the force of good the prophet was talking about. We also don't know that Whitney is the force of evil."

"Evil will kill good. Blood will spill blood. Do you know what that means?" Traya sighed. "Wyatt Halliwell is the single most powerful force of good that has existed in a long while. Who else could the prophecy be speaking of?"

"Fine, but why Whitney? You still haven't explained why she is the one that has to do it."

"I don't know that she is," Traya said, "but the odds certainly suggest it. Blood spilling blood – family killing family. Wyatt is the twice-blessed child; first born into this generation. With the way Whitney's powers are progressing, she is likely the last-born. The Charmed Ones are done procreating. That's what these new powers of hers are telling us."

"It was only one new power."

"But it's a new _witch _power. Have you noticed that none of the Charmed children, except for Wyatt, have more than one witch power? Sure, they have white lighter powers and cupid powers. But they each only have _one _witch power. Except for Wyatt, and except for her. And she'll continue to gain more power. I told you she was special Dylan, remember?"

"I know. I'm just…questioning it."

"Well, don't," she said firmly. "You went looking for your parents. And you found me. As your mother, it's my duty to guide _you_. Let me handle the details. You just do what I say."

Dylan nodded, looking back over at Whitney. But his mother's voice drew him back. She said, "You're a good boy, Dylan. I know you don't want to hurt anyone. We haven't killed a single innocent since being reunited, have we?"

"No."

"That's right. You need to stop thinking of this as good vs. evil. It's _us _vs. _them_. If Wyatt takes power, he will kill us all. We need to do this for survival."

"They wouldn't kill me. I'm part witch too, and as long as I don't do anything wrong, which I haven't yet-"

"Being part witch, part demon does not mean you get to hop from one side of the fence to the other. You need to pick what you're gong to be. Witch or demon. You can be with them…or with me - the only family you have left."

There was a moment of silence. Dylan looked at the ground and then back up at his mother. "What do you need me to do?"

"Keep her here, and protect her."

"Protect her from what?"

"She needs to see that she can trust you. And I know how much you love killing demons."

"You think I can handle it?"

Traya smiled. "Baby, I know you can."

* * *

Chris orbed into the sitting room with Wyatt. All of the other children were there and immediately jumped at seeing Wyatt injured on the floor.

"Oh my God! What happened?" Prue asked.

"Is he okay?" Melinda crouched down next to her brother, putting a hand on his sweaty forehead.

"Is Aunt Paige here?" Chris demanded.

Allison shook her head. "She went after Traya with your mom and Aunt Phoebe."

"What's going on?"

Chris turned as his father's voice, seeing Leo quicken his pace when he saw his eldest on the floor with blood coating his torso. Henry and Coop weren't far behind; it was as if they'd been talking about something in the kitchen – perhaps wanting to shelter the kids from their discussion.

"I just need someone to heal me," Wyatt said, completely breathless now. "We need to get back down there."

Henry Jr. pushed one of his sisters aside to get closer. "Here, let me."

"Henry," his dad objected, but Henry Jr. shook his head.

"No one else can, Dad." Henry Jr. placed shaking hands over the wound. His healing power was always slow because it was underdeveloped, but it always worked. Sure enough, the glow began to emit from his hands a few seconds later and Wyatt's wound closed up, the blood disappearing.

Wyatt sat up, slapping Henry Jr. gently on the shoulder. "Thanks man." His eyes found his brother. "All right, we've got to go."

"Now hold on," Leo butted in, putting a hand on each of his son's shoulders before they could orb. "Your mom and your aunts are handling this now."

"Dad, we got ambushed by at least ten demons down there," Chris said. "And I bet you the same thing will happen to them. They're going to need back-up."

"Chris," Leo began, but Wyatt cut off any lecture that was coming by simply orbing out. Chris did the same. "Damn it," Leo muttered.

The phone rang on the other side of the room. Almost everyone seemed interested in ignoring it, but Henry Sr. picked it up since he was standing right beside it. He listened for a moment, before taking a step towards Leo, lowering the phone from his ear. "Leo, it's Mr. Thompson."

Leo let out a stressful sigh. "Great." He took the phone from Henry and walked into the kitchen for privacy. Coop let out a strangled sob, getting more and more worried by the minute about his youngest in the hands of some demon and his wife possibly in the middle of a demon ambush. He turned his back on the children and stepped into the conservatory with his head down. Henry Sr. followed to try to comfort him.

Allison sat on the arm of one of the chairs, looking around at everyone in the room. Her brother hadn't moved since he'd healed Wyatt. Jessica and Madeline were on the couch, staring off into space with reddened eyes. Melinda was on the floor with her head down on her knees, shaking slightly – evidence that she must have been crying. And Prue…Prue had her head down with two fingers from each of her hands against her temples. Her eyes were closed in deep concentration.

"Prue, what are you doing?" Allison asked.

Prue looked up. "Trying to contact Whitney with my telepathy."

"You're probably too far away," Jessica said with her arm around Madeline. "You haven't been able to reach that far yet."

"Doesn't help that I barely practice anymore," she said, her tone showing how aggravated she was with herself. Allison wouldn't say it out loud, but she agreed with Prue's frustration. Some of her cousins barely practiced their powers – she knew for a fact that her brother and sister rarely did. Maybe if they had trained better, or if they'd stayed in magic school instead of gallivanting off to that stupid Bay View High School, then maybe they'd be of more help in this situation.

But Allison had been practicing. She'd been working hard. And right now, her family needed her. She stood up.

"I'm going down there."

"Down where?" Henry Jr. asked.

Allison rolled her eyes in frustration. "The Underworld, where else?"

"Now's not the time," Melinda almost shouted. "If you want to prove yourself some more, wait until there aren't a hundred demons after our family."

"This isn't about proving myself," she said. "You know, everyone keeps saying that I'm not ready for this. That I'm too young or too inexperienced." She paused. "Do you think our moms were ready when it happened to them? Did they train for years at magic school or with their parents to prepare? No. Witches are lucky enough to get trained, but we're not just witches. We've got Charmed blood in us. And there's a difference between being ready and being Charmed." She swallowed a lump in her throat. "Sometimes you can't prepare for the type of lives that we'll be forced to live. You can try all you want to avoid it. Our moms certainly did. But guess what? This is who we are. And I'm not just gonna sit here when I can help."

There was a long moment of silence. Henry Jr. finally said, "You can't do this. It's risky enough for Mom and them. You'll get killed."

Allison shrugged. "You guys make up your own minds." And with that, she was gone.

"Dad!" Jessica almost screamed. It had happened so fast. After that big speech, she hadn't expected Allison to just orb out like that. She assumed she'd stay longer to convince them.

"What is it?" Henry Sr. nearly ran back into the room with Coop behind him, hearing the panic in his daughter's voice.

"Allison just left," Jessica felt herself welling up, "for the Underworld."

Henry Sr. exchanged a look of complete and utter shock with Coop, as if he didn't know how to react. He'd tried to sympathize with Coop before, but now he knew exactly how his brother-in-law felt. One of his baby girls was in the Underworld.

I had a lot of fun with this chapter so I hoped you loved it! There's probably only a couple more chapters for this particular story, but I do plan on continuing to write more stories in this universe and continue the plot with Dylan (hint, hint, it won't be wrapped up by the end of this story ;)


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, concepts, or plot arcs of Charmed. The vanquishing spell used in this chapter is from the episode, "Rewitched," with a slight adjustment.

When Whitney came to, she felt someone rubbing her back. It reminded her of the days when her mom would lay in bed with her, scratching her back until she fell asleep. But when Whitney cracked her eyes open, it wasn't her mother's eyes that she saw but Dylan's dark brown ones.

"Are you all right?" he asked. He put his hand in hers to help her sit up. She took in her surroundings and before she could stop it, she began to tremble. Dylan seemed to sense her panic and tightened his grip on her hand. "Whitney, it's okay. Nothing's going to happen to us."

"This is the Underworld, isn't it?"

Dylan nodded. "But don't worry. I'm going to take care of you. I've been down here before, remember? I know how to handle myself."

"I don't understand. Why would a demon want me?"

"Probably just to get to your mom and your aunts. I'm sure they won't hurt you. I don't think any demon wants to go up against the wrath of the Charmed Ones."

"So you're saying I'm bait?"

Dylan shrugged. "Probably."

"What about you?"

"Wrong place, wrong time?" Dylan suggested. "I don't know even know what happened really. One second I'm studying and the next I'm lying in a pile of books."

"Oh God, my uncle! Do you think Leo's okay?"

"I'm sure he's fine. I bet your mom has already found him and they're out there looking for us. Well, at least they're looking for you."

"What does that mean?" Whitney asked.

"It's no secret that your family doesn't trust me. Especially your cousins. They probably think I'm behind this."

"That's ridiculous. Besides, I told my cousin Allison what you said-"

"What?" Dylan's voice suddenly sounded cold. "What did you tell her?"

Whitney stammered. "That you were half witch, half demon. I didn't know it was a secret, you didn't say-"

"Oh man, Whitney." Dylan looked at her face, and when he saw the distress and pain in her eyes, he realized he needed to calm down, but that was hard. If they knew even a little about him, they could figure everything out. He took a deep breath to keep his fury inside. "They're gonna kill me," he said.

"No, they won't."

"If they know that I'm even a fraction demon, they'll kill me. They won't trust me."

Whitney glared. "My family is not that close minded. You're also a witch, which makes you good too. Plus, you chose to follow the good path. You're studying at magic school, you're going after demons…you have done nothing to deserve getting killed."

Dylan shook his head. "Your family won't see it that way. You weren't there when your cousins were interrogating me in your basement. They had no interest in hearing my side of the story or figuring things out. They were out for blood because they thought I wanted to hurt you."

"But you didn't! I know that Wyatt and Chris can have tunnel vision sometimes, but they won't kill you unless they have proof that you've done something evil. I swear."

Dylan shrugged. "If you think so."

"If they try to, I won't let them. I promise."

Dylan smiled, the reason for his smile deeper than she knew. "Thanks Whitney."

She shivered beside him and he scooted to put his arm around her. She seemed startled by his comfort in making that move, but she relaxed into his side and let out a heavy sigh.

Dylan felt the attack coming, his demon instincts kicking in as their attackers began to shimmer in. He knew where they'd be before they landed. As his mother had explained it, each demon had been told a different demon would be the sacrificial lamb and the others should shimmer away once Dylan killed that demon, but none of them knew that Dylan had no concept of a "sacrifice" in this instance. He was ready to kill them all.

He shot to his feet and positioned himself in front of Whitney. He threw both his hands out, allowing the crackling energy balls to shoot from his fingertips and destroy two demons at once. There were still four more, and he took care of all of them before they had the chance to disappear.

When the lair was silent and empty again, Dylan crouched down beside Whitney and put his hands on her trembling ones. "Are you okay?" he asked.

She nodded and said in a sad, broken voice, "I want to go home."

Dylan pulled her close and hugged her, her soft brown hair wrapped around his fingers.

* * *

"Anything?" Chris watched his older brother trying to concentrate on sensing Whitney. Wyatt opened his eyes and shook his head. "But we were in this exact same spot before and you were close."

"It was faint," Wyatt corrected. "I'm thinking the lair was cloaked before and if possible, it's cloaked even stronger now. I'm not getting anything."

"Maybe she's just been moved," Chris suggested.

Wyatt shook his head. "No. I don't see any reason why he'd move her. She's got to be nearby. We just need to keep looking."

Chris stopped, a pensive look on his face. Wyatt turned and stared at him. "What is it?"

"It's just…I know this isn't affecting our approach too much, but why even look for this other demon anymore? It seems like Traya is at the root of all of this. The demon that took Whitney could have just been…like a crony. You know, just a patsy to do what she wanted."

Wyatt nodded. "You're right, though. That doesn't change anything. We're looking for Whitney, not this demon."

"But Mom and them are looking for Traya. If this is all connected, then they should be in the same place, right? Find Traya, we find Whitney."

"_If _it's connected," Wyatt said. "This could all just be some massive coincidence."

"When do coincidences like this ever happen to us though?" Chris asked.

Wyatt shrugged. "Good point. So you think we should join forces with Mom, Phoebe, and Paige?"

"We knew they'd need backup anyway. Traya clearly has tons of support in the Underworld. The Power of Three has to vanquish her, but it might be difficult if a bunch of demons are there to help her. We could take care of the spare demons."

"Right. Okay, we can…wait." Wyatt stopped and turned around. Chris frowned and moved his eyes to the place Wyatt was looking. Less than a second later, the sight of someone orbing in met their eyes. When the orbs cleared away, they saw their blonde energetic cousin.

Wyatt sucked in a breath, unable to let it out. "Allison, what are you doing here?"

"I came to help," she said, no spunk or joy in her tone. She was dead serious.

"You're just gonna get in the way," Wyatt said. "We can't worry about protecting you."

"I'm not asking you to," she said. "I'm asking you to treat me like an equal. If you get ambushed again, you'll need my help to keep the demons off. I can do it."

"You've never vanquished a demon before."

"There's a first time for everything."

Wyatt opened his mouth to begin his lecture, but Chris interrupted, "Just let her stay. She's right. Having another witch around would help us out a ton."

"She's not just a witch, Chris!" Wyatt objected. "She's our cousin. Our _little _cousin. If we walk in there with her by our side, Aunt Paige will flip."

"She's almost sixteen," Chris said. "You need to stop working against her and start working _with _her. She wants to help. Let her help."

Allison smiled a little, locking eyes with him. "Thanks Chris," she said, a little surprised by his support.

Chris nodded. "You know what to do right? If an energy ball is coming at you-"

"I direct it back at them. Same with fireballs or anything else. And if I feel overwhelmed, I orb out immediately."

"Exactly," Chris said and then looked at Wyatt, clapping a firm hand on his shoulder. "She's as ready as she's gonna be. We need to just do this."

Wyatt sighed. "All right, fine." He held his hand out and gestured for her to join them. She stepped into his arm and he pulled her to him in an embrace. She felt Chris's hand on her back, and then Allison jumped back when a spark went through her body, stinging like a shock of static electricity.

Allison saw her cousins both looking upwards. She followed their gaze and saw several white lights dancing above their heads. And then a ray of that same light engulfed all three of them. It diminished as quickly as it had come.

"What was that?" Allison asked. Wyatt and Chris exchanged a stunned look; each of their faces looked almost as white as the lights that had encompassed them. "Guys?"

"We have to go," Wyatt said. "I know exactly where they are." He left, expecting them to follow his orbs to Piper, Phoebe, and Paige.

Allison looked to Chris, wanting him to explain. He remained tight-lipped, taking her hand. He knew she could orb by herself, but he wanted to keep her close.

Especially now.

* * *

In the sitting room of the manor, Prue had her head bent down, using her hands on either side of her face to try to block out any outside distractions. Jessica and Madeline were trying to scry for their sisters, even though their Uncle Leo had them it was unlikely to work since both girls were probably in the Underworld. Melinda was thumbing through the Book of Shadows. Henry Sr.'s shock had quickly turned to anger – anger at the whole magic world. Coop tried to keep him calm, as it was usually his job to do when magic put them in danger like this, but every time the children thought he'd finished yelling, he would let out another angry shout.

Henry Jr. had been watching his sister dangle the crystal over the map for almost five minutes before he reached out and grabbed it by the string and chucked it at the wall. "Just stop! There's no point!"

Leo stepped towards his nephew. "Henry-"

"No, this is stupid. Stop trying to be useful!" he yelled at the girls in the room. "There's nothing we can do but wait. So just stop."

"There's plenty we can do," Prue said, her concentration completely broken by Henry's outburst. "Maybe we can't help with the demons, but we can try to find Allison and Whitney. So what if our attempts don't work? It's better than nothing."

"I'm not so sure we can't help with demons," Madeline said, looking at her older sister. "Allison might have been right."

"No. She wasn't," Henry spat. "My sister was out of her mind going down there. She'll get hurt, which will only distract everyone from saving Whitney. It was stupid."

"She's not as incapable as you think," Melinda said. "Maybe it was stupid, but at the same time, we won't be ready unless we get experience."

"Are you kidding?" Jessica asked. "You were the one telling her not to do this."

"Because I was convinced that we were too young. But what difference does age make to anything? If anyone is ready for this, Allison is. She may even be more ready than my brothers were at her age. She gets cocky sometimes, but she knows what she's doing."

"Does she?" Henry demanded. "You remember what happened last night, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" Melinda said. "But that was a lesson for her. She's learned from it, and she's moved on. Maybe I was hard on her, but that's all the more reason to trust what I'm saying now." She glanced at Madeline, remembering how she had insisted they were ready to help with the demons. "I don't think any of us in this room are ready to do what Allison is doing. But we can _get_ ready. I think we have to."

Leo listened to his daughter, feeling more and more proud by the second. As a father, he never wanted to admit that his children would be put through the same dangers that his wife and her sisters had gone through, but if they were going to be taking over for their mothers, then they needed to _want _it. They couldn't run from it. Leo had always worried about his youngest because her interest in fighting demons was indifferent at best, but now she was standing up, saying that she was ready to take on that role someday.

Leo hoped it wouldn't become their whole lives, but he wanted them – all of them – to accept their destiny and be ready to fight off the threats that the Charmed legacy was forced to fight off frequently. Still it'd been hard to let go with Wyatt and Chris; it was still hard. Melinda was only fifteen, and she was his little girl. It'd be the most difficult to see her take on her role as a witch.

"We're all witches," Melinda continued, "at least in part. And just like our moms, we have to continue this."

"Over my dead body."

All heads turned to Henry Sr., who was standing in the doorway of the conservatory with Coop behind him. His eyes were red rimmed from crying. Though his voice was strong and determined: "I'm done. With all of this. Once everyone is safe, I want my children's powers stripped. I want Allison pulled from that school. My kids will _not _do this."

"Henry, that's not the solution," Leo said.

"You might be okay with your kid being witches, Leo, but I'm not. All right? I'm their father, and I get a say in this."

Melinda watched Jessica and Henry Jr. sit and allow their father to say this. They may not be ready to jump in and be witches, but no way would either of them accept losing their powers.

"You can't make a decision like this when you're this scared," Leo said evenly. "Maybe once this is over-"

"You don't know that it will be over," Henry Sr. argued. "It could end with my daughter and my wife dying and then what? What am I supposed to do then?"

"You put your life in danger every day with your job," Leo said. "You understand the risk better than anyone else."

"It's not the same. The people I deal with aren't demons. Most of them still have a conscience. They wouldn't shoot a little girl without even thinking about it."

"Henry," Coop tried, but Henry was adamant.

"I've made up my mind." Henry crossed the sitting room, heading towards the kitchen. He was clearly done arguing. Leo offered Coop a comforting look. Both of them knew the situation wasn't ideal, but while Henry's fears were justified, his decision was not.

Henry Jr. moved to sit next to his sister on the couch. It was silent for several seconds, and then it happened.

The same white lights that had startled Allison, Wyatt, and Chris were jingling in the center of the sitting room near the ceiling. All eyes in the room looked up towards it, frowning in confusion. Leo watched as the lights turned to long beams that stretched towards each teenager, bathing each of them in a glowing white light. And then it faded.

Leo couldn't believe it. This was all happening much too soon.

* * *

Dylan was still holding Whitney when the white lights appeared above her head, engulfing her in its bright glow. She looked up, dried tears on her cheeks and frowned. "What's going on?"

"I don't know," Dylan said, for once being completely and utterly honest. When the glow disappeared, Dylan waited for something to happen, but everything stayed still and silent. He disentangled himself from Whitney and scooted back. "Are you okay? Do you feel different?"

"No," she said. There were footsteps coming closer and without thinking Whitney closer to Dylan again, feeling protected as he put his shoulder in front of hers. Traya appeared in the center of the cave, smiling down at the two children. "Who are you?" Whitney asked.

"Someone who's going to help you," Traya said softly, crouching down in front of Whitney.

"Help me with what?"

"Discover who you really are. What your destiny is."

"Hey Goth girl."

Traya snapped around, spotting Piper, Phoebe, and Paige standing only a few feet away. She straightened, shooting a dagger sharp glare in their direction. "How did you find me?"

"Oh, we're just that good," Paige said.

"Whitney," Phoebe called, the relief clear in her voice at seeing her daughter still in one piece. Whitney stood up and immediately rushed over, nearly falling into her mother's arms.

Paige put her hand up and started to orb Whitney home, but Traya let out a loud yell, and with her telekinesis, she whipped the orbs across the lair before they could disappear completely. Whitney landed hard on the ground, rolling over onto her back and moaning.

"You bitch," Phoebe muttered. She started to run to her daughter, tears in her eyes, but Traya wouldn't let it happen. She held her hand up, successfully knocking the three witches back into the wall.

"You can't have her," Traya said.

"Don't hurt them!" Dylan shot to his feet, running to his mother. He grabbed her arm and gave her his most threatening look. If she hurt Whitney's family, there'd be no way of gaining Whitney's trust. They needed to just admit they'd failed, let her go, and try again later.

But Traya ignored him, pulling her arm of his grasp. She raised her hands to attack when the girls started chanting:

_Here us now, the witches' call,_

_She who hopes that good-_

Their voices were cut off when Traya attacked. They ducked an energy ball, trying to continue the chanting, but at that moment, several demons shimmered into the cave, as if telepathically called there by Traya.

"Paige, get Whitney," Phoebe said, realizing that this wasn't going to end the way they wanted it to.

But Wyatt, Chris, and Allison were standing by and they orbed in just in time for Wyatt to vanquish four demons that were heading towards Whitney, probably on Traya's orders to grab her and leave. Piper was frantically blowing up demons while Phoebe had to rely on hand-to-hand combat to hold off one of them.

While Wyatt eliminated several demons at once, Allison found herself up against a demon that sent her flying into the cavern wall. She heard the sizzle of the electricity coming towards her and she reflexively put her hand up, saying in a loud, clear voice, "Energy ball."

The blue ball retraced its path, making contact with the demon's chest and blowing him to bits. With that confidence boost, she stood up, ready to take on another.

Meanwhile, Paige had made it to Whitney, taking her niece in her arms. She quickly orbed the girl back home, watching in relief as the orbs made it all the way out. Traya caught sight of this, letting out an angered shriek. She swept Paige off of her feet, and called for even more demons. Wyatt let out an annoyed grunt. How many demons did this bitch have under her control? This was just getting frustrating. He set himself up to vanquish even more.

Chris held his hand out to help his aunt Paige get to her feet and immediately asked her, "Where's the spell?"

She held up the small sheet of paper. "Right here, but-"

Chris snatched it out of her hands and made a beeline for Allison. He grabbed her arm and called for Wyatt, who had just vanquished one more demon. He moved directly beside them, looking over Chris's shoulder as the three of them read:

_Here us now, the witches' call_

_She who hopes that good will fall,_

_We speak as one, the witches three,_

_And banish you to eternity._

As a swirl of flames began to encircle Traya, her eyes went wide. "But how…" And then she let out a horrifying scream as her body disintegrated into nothing.

Dylan dropped to his knees, his own eyes wide and transfixed on the spot where his mother had stood. "No, no, no…"

Chris took a step towards Dylan, intending to take him back with them to interrogate him for real this time, but he took one look at them and shot to his feet, running at a full sprint away from them.

"Let him go," Wyatt said. "I think we've successfully scared him off."

"Or successfully pissed him off," Paige said. She then took a determined step towards her daughter. "Speaking of pissed off…"

"Don't be mad," Allison said. "I did good! I vanquished two demons all on my own!"

"Your father-"

"Will understand once you explain it to him."

"Can we argue this out at home?" Phoebe asked. "I want to get to my daughter."

Wyatt held his hand out to her, and she took it so they could orb back, everyone else following. When they arrived back in the manor, Coop had Whitney wrapped up tightly in his arms and her sisters had tears of joy on their faces.

At the sight of his wife and daughter, Henry Sr. immediately rushed over, hugging them both. Phoebe joined Coop with fussing over their youngest, and while everyone celebrated, Piper stood back near the stairs, looking at her two sons, who were both grinning mischievously.

"Do you want to explain to me what happened?" she asked. Leo frowned, stepping beside his wife.

"What do you mean?"

Piper turned to Leo. "Our sons, and Allison, vanquished the demon. The demon that needed a Power of Three spell to vanquish."

Leo shared a knowing look with Wyatt and Chris, who were still trying to hold back their grins. Piper watched the exchange and then slapped her hips in frustration. "Would one of you tell me what's going on?"

"I think," Leo paused, "The Power of Three…has been…" he tried searching for the right word. "It's shifted," he said.

"To us," Wyatt said, finally letting his smile explode, as did his brother.

"To all of you," Leo said.

"But how is that possible?" Piper asked. "There's nine of them."

Leo took a deep breath. "I think in a way, all nine of them _can _be the Power of Three, whenever they want. It could have just as easily been Wyatt, Chris, and Melinda to vanquish the demon, or Phoebe's girls."

Wyatt glanced at Chris and then turned his gaze to his parents. "So then that makes us like, three times as powerful." Him and his brother smiled even bigger, if that was possible.

Piper shook her head, looking at her husband. "This is quite possibly the worst thing you could have told them."

"So what about you guys?" Chris asked, ignoring his mother. "Are you still the Charmed Ones?"

Wyatt shook his head with a smirk. "I think they've officially retired."

Piper sighed relief and said with much exaggeration, "Finally."

On the other side of the room, Phoebe had Whitney on her lap, still holding onto her. "You scared me half to death," she whispered into her daughter's ear. Whitney pushed back a little bit so she wasn't against her mother's shoulder.

"What happened to Dylan?" she asked softly.

Chris cleared his throat. "He ran off after we vanquished his mom."

Whitney frowned. "His mom?"

"He lied to you," Allison informed her. "It wasn't his birth dad that he found. It was his mom. We think he was working with her the whole time to get to you."

Whitney shook her head. "No. He wouldn't do that."

Chris shrugged. "She was his family. Evil or not, he loved her. I think he would have done anything for her."

Phoebe could see Whitney growing distraught over this sudden revelation, so she hugged her again. "Don't worry about that now, baby. You're safe with us. That's all that matters."

But Whitney couldn't stop thinking about him. It wasn't as black and white as they were suggesting. There was still some good in Dylan, and she prayed she'd have the chance to prove it to her family.

A/N: Oh my God, I am so sorry this took me so long to get up. I had most of the chapter done; I just couldn't get the very end. This is actually the last chapter of this story, but I do plan on continuing in this universe and with this plot. I'm getting ready to go on vacation in about a week and I won't be back until May 9th. If I can manage to get the first chapter of the next one done before I leave, I'll post, but if not, then you guys will have to wait until I get back.

Please let me know what you thought of this story! Reviews are always very much appreciated


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